
'M' 






UI^DETT &COMI')^M^ 



t^'** ' . 









LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

? ! \ 6 - - : '■ 

Shelf ...lili ^ 



i;»ui* 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






I AM drawing near to the close of my career; I am 
fast sliuffling off the stage. I have been perhaps the 
most voluminous author of the day ; and it is a comfort 
to me to think that I have tried to unsettle no man's 
faith, to corrupt no man's principle. 

Scott (quoted by Lockhart). 




SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



thp: 



LADY OF THE LAKE 



BY 

Sir WALTER SCOTT, Bart. 

EDITED, WITH NOTES 
BY 

HOMER B. SPEAGUE, A.M., Ph.D. 

FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN CORNELL UNIVERSITY, AND AFTERWARDS 

PRESIDENT OF THE STATE IINITERSITY' OF NORTH DAKOTA ; FOUNDER 

OF THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD SUMMER INSTITUTE. 



SUGGESTIONS AND PLANS FOR STUDY 
TOPICS FOR ESSAYS, 






I 



SILVER, BFRDETT AND COMPANY 

New York BOSTON Chicago 

1895 . 



o 

o^ 



<yrA^ 



i ':a 



COPYKIGHT, 1895, 

By SILVEK, BUEDETT & COMPANY. 



/Z~ 3^6-0 3 



Xotboooti iprcss : 

J. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. 

Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 



PKEFAOE. 



This edition of Scott's Lady of the Lake is especially designed 
to meet the wants of teachers and students ; but it is hoped that 
the general reader may find it useful. It is not expected that all 
the notes will be alike valuable to all ; but it is believed that the 
general reader, wliatever his object, will find in them something 
helpful. 

If it be asked, " Why add another to tlie many school edi- 
tions?" the following points of difference between it and any 
other complete edition may be mentioned : — 

1. The notes are all intended to stimulate rather than supersede 
thought. 
■ 2. The results of many of the latest researches are given. 

3. It presents for choice the varying opinions of editors, com- 
mentators, and of Scott himself. 

4. It suggests some of the best methods of studying English 
literature, and how to make the choicest passages the basis of 
lessons in language and rhetoric. 

5. It contains a chronological table of Scott's life and works ; 
topics for essays ; maps (Scotland and the Lake District), and an 
unusually copious index. 

6. It is the only school edition so arranged as to avoid, in a 
mixed class of boys and girls, the passage which offends the con- 
science and modesty of youth, as it gave pain to Lord Jeffrey. 

In the text we follow the well-nigh perfect edition of Rolfe, to 
whom all American students and teachers are so much indebted. 

5 



COE'TES'TS. 



Chronology of Scott's Life and Works 
Explanations and Abbreviations . 

The Lady of the Lake. 

Canto I. The Chase 

Canto 11. The Island 

Canto ITI. The Gathering 

Canto IV, The Prophecy 

Canto Y. The Combat 

Canto VI. The Guard-room 

Outline of Biography of James V. 
Character of James V. 
How TO STUDY English Literature 
Topics for Essays 

Index 

Maps 



8 
10 

11 

44 

78 
111 
144 

178 

209 
210 
211 
218 
220 
226 



CHEO?s' OLOGIG AL. 



WALTER SCOTT'S LIFE AND WORKS. 



A.D. 

1771 
1773 
1774 

1775 

1776 
1777 

1778-79 

1780-82 

1783 
1784 
1785 



1786 

1787-88 



1789 
1790-91 

1792 



1796 
1797-98 

1799 

1802 
1804 



Born the same day as Napoleon Bonaparte, Aug. 15. 

At age of 18 months, right leg paralyzed. Lameness. 

Taken from home in Edinburgh to his grandfather's 
farm at Sandy Knowe 

Under treatment for lameness at Bath, under the 
care of his aunt 

In Edinburgh 

Defines himself as '"a virtuoso, one avIio Avishes to 
know and will know everything " 

At High School, Edinburgh, imder the instruction of 
Mr. Frazer 

At same school, under the special instruction of Dr. 
Alexander Adam 

In July, 1782, wrote neat verses on The Sett in (/ Sun. 

At his grandfather's farm, near Kelso 

Entered the University of Edinburgh. 

Greatly interested and excited over Percy's lieUqnes 
of Ancient Poetry 

Studies interrupted by bursting of blood-vessel and 
severe illness 

Indentured apprentice in legal studies with his 
father, who was Writer to the Signet. 

Learned Italian in order to read Dante and Ariosto. 

Met Robert Burns in a party of literary men at 
Edinburgh 

Diligently reading law, and devouring every work 
of imagination on Avhich he could lay hands, 
during some four years. Studied German . . . 

Read poets, noA^elists, historians, biographers . . . 

Lent umbrella to Margaret Belches, and fell in love 
with the borrower 

Called to the bar. Member of Faculty of AdA'ocates. 

For seven years successively he travelled on his 
" raids" into Liddesdale and Annandale, collect- 
ing Border ballads, romances, legends, etc. 

Published translations of Burger's Lenore and The 
Wild Huntsman 

Married Mile. Charlotte Marguerite Charpentier, 
and they lived at Lasswade, six miles S.E. of Ed- 
inburgh 

Appointed Sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire at £300 a 
year, with slight duties 

Published translation of Goetz von Berlichingen, 
TAe //o?/se o/^.spe?i, and some ballads . . . . 

Published Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border . . . 

Was quartermaster of a mounted volunteer com- 
pany. 

Removed his residence to Ashestiel. 



Approx- 
imate age. 



n 

3 

4 

5 

(i 

7-8 

9-11 

12 

13 
14 

15 



lG-17 
18 

19-20 
21 



26-27 

28 

29 
31 



8 



CHRONOLOGICAL. 



9 



A.D. 



Approx- 
imate age. 



1805 Began Waverley. Published Sir Tristem. Pub- 
lished The Lay of the Last Minstrel 

180G Appointed to receive clerkship of Court of Sessions. 

Forms secret partnership with Ballantyne . . . i 35 

1808 Published Marmion I 37 

1810-11 Bouglit 100 acres of land on Tweed, the beginning of I 

I Abbotsford. Bought adjoining farms .... 39-40 

1811 I Published Vision of Don Roderick ' 40 

1812 I Began to receive £1300 a year from the clerkship, j 

which he had held in reversion | 41 

1813 Published Rokeby ; also Bridal of Triermain ... 42 
Resumed the writing of Waverley. j 

1814 VwyAi^heA The Lord of the Lnles ; also Waverley . . \ 43 

1815 The Field of Waterloo ; Guy Mannerinci .... 41 
I81t» The Antiqua7'y ; Black Dwarf ; Old Mortality . . 45 

1817 Harold the Dauntless . . . ' 4(5 

1818 '<■ Rob Roy ; Heart of Midlothian 47 

1819 I Bride of Lammermoor ; Legend of Montrose ... 48 

1820 Iranho'e ; The Mo7iastery : The Abbot. — Baronetcy 

conferred upon him 49 

1821 Kenilworth ; The Pirate 50 

1822 The Fortunes of Xigel 51 

1823 Peveril of the Peak ; Quentin Durward ; St. Ronan's 

'Well 52 

1824 Redqauntlet 53 

1825 The Betrothed ; The Talisman 54 

Financial distress begins. 

1826 Utter financial wreck 55 

Published Woodstock 55 

1827 The Life of Napoleon ; The Two Drovers ; Highland \ 
Widow; Surgeon's Daughter ; Tales of a Grand- 
father; History of Scotland. 56 

1828 The Fair Maid of Perth 57 

1829 Anne of Geierstein 58 

1830 Paralytic stroke in February, after earning by his 
pen £70,000 in four years 59 

Letter on Demonology and Witchcraft. 

1831 Second paralytic stroke. 
Published Count Robert of Paris ; Castle Dangerous. 

Left in December for Malta 60 

After six months' absence returned. 

1832 Died at Abbotsford, Sept, 21. Buried at Dryburgh 
Abbey, Sept. 26 61 



. . . "Lockhart," he said, "I may have but a minute to speak to 
you. My dear, be a good man, — be virtuous. — be religious, — be a good 
man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie 
here." He paused: Lockhart said, " Shall I send for Sophia and Anne? " 
"No," said he; " don't disturb them. Poor souls! I know they were up 
all night. God bless you all! " With this he sank into a very tranquil 
sleep, and indeed he scarcely afterward gave any sign of consciousness. 



EXPLANATIONS AND ABBEEVIATIONS. 



Adj. = adjective. 

Brachet = Bracket's Etymological 
French Dictionary. 

Cent. Diet. = Century Dictionary, 

Cf . = confer = compare. 

Class. Diet. = Classical Dictionary. 

Cor. = Corinthians. 

Dan. = Danish. 

Diet. = Dictionary. 

Dim. = diminutive. 

Dut. =- Dutch. 

E. = east. 

Ed. = edition or editions. 

End. = ending. 

Eng. = English. 

Etc. = et cetera = and so forth. 

Et seq. = et sequentia = and the fol- 
lowing. 

Ezek. = Ezehiel. 

Fr. = French ; fr. = from. 

G. or Ger. = German. 

Gael. = Gaelic. 

Ginn = Ginn's edition. 

Gr. = Greek. 

Gram. = grammar. 

H. = Higii. 

Icel. — Icelandic. 

Ibid. = ibidem = same place. 

Id. = idem = same. 

Int, Diet. = International Diction- 
ary. 
Ital. = Italian. 



Int. = International. 

Lat. = Latin. 

Late Latin and Low Latin =the 
Latin language in its latest 
stages. 

M. = miles. 

MsiC. = Macbeth. 

Matt. = Matthew. 

Mid. = Middle. 

M.H.G. = Middle High German. 

N. = north. • 

N.W. = northwest. 

O. = Old. 

Old Fr. = Old French. 

Orig. = originally. 

Par. L. = Paradise Lost. 

Ps. == Psalm. 

Q.v. = quod vide = which see. 

Rolfe = Rolfe's edition. 

Rom. & Jul. = Borneo and Juliet. 

S. = south. 

Scot. = Scottish or Scotland. 

Shakes. = Shakespeare . 

Skeat — Skeat's Etymological Dic- 
tionary of English Language. 

Sp. or Span. = Spanish. 

Taylor = Taylor's edition. 

Trench = Trench on the Study of 
Words. 

W. = west. 

Web. = Webster's Dictionary. 

Wor. = Worcester's Dictionary. 



10 



ARGUMENT. 

The scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in. the vicinity 
of Loch Katrine, in the Western Highlands of Perthshire. The 
time of Action includes Six Days, and the transactions of each 
Day occupy a Canto. 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



CANTO FIKST. 



THE CHASE. 



Harp of the North ! that mouldering long hast hung 
On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring, 

And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung, 
Till envious ivy did around thee cling, 

Canto I. Canto, Lat. cantare, to sing ; Ital. canto, section of a 
song. — Each canto begins with at least one Spenserian stanza. Notice its 
eight lines of ten syllables each, and the ninth line of twelve, and especially 
the curiously arranged rhymes. In a perfect Spenserian stanza, tlie har- 
monies are interwoven throughout, each line is wrought with reference to 
the general effect, the meaning and melody are in some degree suspended 
until revealed in full force at the close. — Test accordingly these three. 

Harp of the North! For thousands of years the harp, invented 
by Jubal before the Flood, has been pre-eminently the favorite instru- 
ment of poets. See Genesis iv, 21.— What particular kind of music 
does this 'Harp of the North' represent? — See Scott's Lay of the Last 
Minstrel. — 1. mouldering long. Burns died in 171)6. This poem was 
first published in 1810. — 2. Avitcli-elni = the broad-leaved nlnais mon- 
tana, Scottish elm. Better spelled ivych-ehn? — Nothing to do with 
witches, though the name suggested their haunts, and good luck was sup- 
posed to follow the use of switches and forked divining rods cut from it. — 
Akin to wicker, vjych = drooping or bending, and some of these elms are 
as graceful as the weeping willow. — Saint Fillan, a Scotch abbot of 
the 7th century, the favorite saint of Robert Bruce, had two springs, 
one at the east end of Loch Earn ; the other about 30 miles west, some 2 
miles from Tyndrum. As late as fifty years ago, the latter spring was 
supposed to have remarkable, if not miraculous, virtues. It was called 
'Holy Pool.' Insane persons, immersed in it, and left bound all night in 
the open air, were pretty sure to be found killed or cured in the morning! 
— 3. numbers = poetic feet ? poetic measures ? verses ? poetry ? — Why 
called 'numbers'? — 4. envious. Grudging what "? — What, if anything, 

11 



12 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO I. 

Muffling with verdant ringlet every string, — "5 

Minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep ? 

Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring, 
Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep, 

Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep ? 

Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, lo 

Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd, 
When lay of hopeless love, or glory won. 

Aroused the fearful or subdued the proud. 
At each according pause was heard aloud 

Thine ardent symphony sublime and high ! 15 

Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bowed; 

For still the burden of thy minstrelsy 
Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's matchless 
eye. 

is symbolized hy ivy?— (MA . . . cling. Is such use of do or didy solely 
to add a syllal)le and fill out the metre, commendable? — 

3. MS. And on the fitful breeze thy numbers Hung', 
Till envious ivy, with her verdant ring, 
Mantled and muffled each melodious string, 
O Wizard Harp, still niu^t thine accents sleep ? 

Why did Scott change this? — 6. minstrel. From the days of old 
Demodocus, the blind bard in Homer, till very recent times, the minstrel 
— at once instrumentalist, vocalist, music composer, and poet, whether 
improvising or elaborating — has been a favorite ' in hall or bower.' See 
Odi/ssey, viii, 4i et seq. ; The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Gray's Bard, etc. 
iO. Caledon = Caledonia. Poetic word? — The Lat. Caledonia origi- 
nally designated the countries north of the Forth and Clj'de. — Anthon 
says, ' Supposed to be from the Celtic words Gael Dun (Gael, or Gauls, 
of the mountains) ; i.e. Highlanders.' Taylor suggests that Caledon = 
'Gael of the downs,' but that others interpret it as coil-dooine, 'men of 
the woods.' — 12, 13. hopeless love, or glory mvovl, aroused ... or 
subdued, etc. — Which aroused, and which subdued? Is the order of 
phrases logical ? language well chosen? — 14. according pause = pause 
in the singing [Rolf e] ? — According = of music that takes up and fills 
the intervals of another [Taylor] ? —Lat. ac = ad, to, in agreement with; 
cordem [sic] ace. of cor, the heart. Skeat. Hence ac-cord-ion, from its 
pleasing sound. — Has chord, a musical string, influenced the meaning? — 
15. ardent. Lat. ardere, to burn, be fiery, blaze j be fervent or pas- 
sionate. — symphony. Gr. o-v/n^wvia, Lat. symphonia, a consonance or 
harmony of agreeable sounds. — 

14. MS. At each according pause thou spokest aloud 
Thine ardent sympathy sublime and high. 

Were these changes improvements? Reasons for your opinion? — 16. 
crested = plumed ? helmeted? — Lat. arista, Fr. crete, a cock's comb. 
See line 44; ii, (J6S. — Crest for helmet in iv, 754? or for ensign armorial? 
coat-of-arms ? — 17. burden. Fr. bourdon (drone or bass, humble-bee, 
akin to burr, to buzz), tlie drone stop in an organ. Bracket, Worcester. 
Old Eng. hurdoun, the bass in music. Probably a word formed by imita- 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 13 

0, wake once more ! how rude soe'er the hand 

That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray; 20 

0, wake once more ! though scarce my skill command 

Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay : 
Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away, 

And all unworthy of thy nobler strain, 
Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway, 25 

The wizard note has not been touched in vain. 
Then silent be no more ! Enchantress, wake again ! 



The stag at eve had drunk his fill, 

Where danced the moon on Monan's rill, 

And deep his midnight lair had made 30 

In lone Glenartney's hazol shade ; 

But when the sun his beacon red 

Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head. 

The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy bay 

E/Csounded up the rocky way, 35 

tion of sound. — For an example of the 'burden,' see ii, 408, 418, etc. — 
knighthood = the high military rank of knight ? the order or body of 
knights? the honor of a knight ? See iv, 686, 756, 757, 758; and, especially, 
V, 768^ 769 ; also the unabridged dictionaries, Scott's Ivanhoe, The Talis- 
man, Qufntin Durwarcl, etc. 

19. Wake. See the first line of Gray's Progress of Poesy. — 20. maze, 
a confusing, baffling network; a labyrinth; windings involved and intri- 
cate? Propriety of this word here? — 21. w^ake. Psafms, cviii, 2. — 
26. wizard. Icel. y? 2: A;-?', clever, knowing; -a;'d = hard. Skeat. Wizard 
once meant wise man, as in Milton; now it means a magician, enchanter, 
masculine of witch? 

28. The stag. Would A stag have been better ? — The male red deer is 
called stag or hart ; the female is called hind. — Note the kind of verse. — 
29. Monan's rill. St. Monan was a Scotch martyr of the 4th century. 
" We can find no mention of any rill named for him. " Rolfe. — 31. Glen- 
artney, Glen is Celtic for narrow valley. The Artney river runs first 
southeasterly, and then northeasterly. See map. — 32. beacon. A. S. 
beacn, a sign; beacnian, to give a signal. — The commentators notice the 
appropriateness of this word. Signal fires were often kindled on hills and 
mountains in this region. See 186, 187 ; also Lay of the Last Minstrel, iii, 
379. — 33. Benvoirlich. The name signifies 'great mountain of the 
lake.' Ben is Gaelic for elevated summit. Benvoirlich is 3180 ft. high. — 
Would it have been better thus ? 

But when the sun had kindled red 
His beacon on Benvoirlich's head. 

34. MS. The bloodhound's notes of heavy hass 
Resounded hoarsely np the pass. 

Reason for the changes? — deep-mouthed is Shakespearian, 1 Henry 



14 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO I. 

And faint, from farther distance borne, 
Were heard the clanging hoof and horn. 



II. 

As Chief, who hears his warder call, 

"To arms ! the foemen storm the wall," 

The antlered monarch of the waste 40 

Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 

But ere his fleet career he took, 

The dew-drops from his flanks he shook ; 

Like crested leader proud and high 

Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky ; 45 

A moment gazed adown the dale, 

A moment snuffed the tainted gale, 

A moment listened to the cry, 

That thickened as the chase drew nigh; 

Then, as the headmost foes appeared, 50 

With one brave bound the copse he cleared, 

And, stretching forward free and far. 

Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Yar. 



VI, II, iv, 12; Tarn, of Shrew, Induction, \, 18. — Note the alliteration. 
Its effect? — " Readers of modern poetry are, perhaps, not aware of what 
a great, though secret, power, alliteration is." Corson. 

38. As Chief, etc. Effect of this inverted order? — warder. A.S. 
iceardian, Ger. icarten, Fr. c/cirder, to keep, take care of, guard. The to 
and g or gu seem interchangeable. — In Marmion, vi, 436, the warder is 
evidently the keeper of the castle gate. — See ii, 373; v, 385; vi, 837. — 
40. antlered. hat. ante ocularem (ramum) , hetore the (jjranch) eye's; 
OldFr. antoiUer, or andouiller, brow-antler. — 41. heathery. A.S. haed, 
a shrub called heather or heath, ling. — Line 53. — 45. beamed. A.S. beam, 
Ger. baum, tree. The principal stem or horn that bears the antlers is called 
beam. — frontlet. Lat./rons, forehead, brow ; dim. end. let. So ringlet, 
streamlet, etc. — A frontlet is usually a brow-band. — 46. adown. Poetic 
word ? — 47. tainted with the scent of the pursuers ? — 49. chase = the 
movement of the pursuers ? the pursuers themselves ? Lines 101, 171. — 51. 
copse. Gr. KonTecv, koptein, Fr. couper, to cut; akin to chop. Copse is 
often an undergrowth of wood kept low by frequent cutting. — 53. heaths. 
Old Eng. heth, waste land. The heath is ' a low shrub with minute ever- 
green leaves, and handsome clusters of pink flowers ; also a place over- 
grown with the shrub, wild open country. See on line 41. — Uam-Var 
or Ua Var — the great den. ' A mountain to the N.E. of Callander, de- 
riving its name from a retreat among the rocks . . . the abode of a giant 
... in later times the refuge of robbers.' Scott. See lines 76-77. 



CANTO I.l THE CHASE. 16 



III. 

Yelled on the view the opening pack ; 

Rock, glen, and cavern paid them back ; 55 

To many a mingled sound at once 

The awakened mountain gave response. 

A hundred dogs bayed deep and strong. 

Clattered a hundred steeds along, 

Their peal the merry horns rung out, 66 

A hundred voices joined the shout ; 

With harp and whoop and wild halloo, 

No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew. 

Far from the tumult fled the roe, 

Close in her covert cowered the doe, 65 

The falcon, from her cairn on high, 

Cast on the rout a wondering eye, 

Till far beyond her piercing ken 

The hurricane had swept the glen. 

Faint, and more faint, its failing din 70 

Returned from cavern, clitf, and linn, 

And silence settled, wide and still, 

On the lone wood and mighty hill. 



IV. 

Less loud the sounds of sylvan war 

Disturbed the heights of Uam-Var, 76 

54. Yelled. Naturally the emphatic word is the first uttered ! " Out of 
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh ! '* So clattered in line 59. — 
Opening = beginning to bark ? barking at first view or scent ? opening 
mouths ? — 55. paid tliem back. Lively description ? — G4. roe = roe- 
buck? Small, very nimble, and graceful. — 65. covert. Lat. con, com- 
pletely; operh^e, to cover; co-operlre, to conceal; Fr. couvrir, to cover. 

— doe = the female of the fallow (i.e. pale yellow) deer? female rabbit? 

— 6fi. falcon. Lat. falx, a sickle. The sickle-shaped claws gave the 
bird its name ? — cairn = round stone heap ? rocl^ lookout ? — Celtic 
earn, stone; to heap. — 67. rout = tumultuous moving throng? uproar? 

— Lat. nipta, broken; Eng. rout, a body broken into disorder. — 68. ken 
= reach of sight? Icel. kenna, to know. Line 144. — 69. hvirricane = 
violent rush of the hunting party ? — '* Good instance of metaphor." Tay- 
lor. — Spanish huaracan from a Caribbeaa word denoting a very high 
wind. — 71. linn. A Celtic word, said to mean deep pool. — Often found 
in compounds, as Roslin, Xinton, Li7icoln, etc. — See ii, 270; vi, 488. — 
73. Note in this line the change of accent. See also lines 85, 97 ; also ii, 
126, 127. Efeect of the variation ? 

74. sylvan. Lat. sylva, or silva, a wood, a grove. For war, $ee ii, 



16 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CAXTO I. 

And roused the cavern where, 'tis told, 

A giant made his den of old ; 

For ere that steep ascent was won, 

High in his pathway hung the sun, 

And many a gallant, stayed perforce, 80 

Was fain to breathe his faltering horse, 

And of the trackers of the deer 

Scarce half the lessening pack was near ; 

So shrewdly on the mountain-side 

Had the bold burst their mettle tried. 85 



V. 

The noble stag was pausing now 

Upon the mountain's southern brow, 

Where broad extended, far beneath, 

The varied realms of fair Menteith. 

With anxious eye he wandered .o'er 90 

Mountain and meadow, moss and moor, 

And pondered refuge from his toil, . 

By far Lochard or Aberfoyle. 

But nearer was the copsewood gray 

That waved and wept on Loch Achray, 96 

And mingled with the pine-trees blue 

On the bold cliffs of Benvenue. 

Fresh vigor with the hope returned, 

With flying foot the heath he spurned, 

569, 570. — 80. stayed = remained ? being stopped ? — perforce. A poetic 
word, like adoivn, 1. 46 ? Other such words ? — 81. breathe. Proper use ? 
— 84. shrewdly. " I would interpret A.S. scredioa as ' the biter.' " Skeat. 
/Shrewdly :=sha,YplY 7 keenly? severely? mischievously? — 85. mettle = 
high spirit or quality ? — Allusion to the temper of a sword-blade. 

89. Menteith. A district about 24 miles long, on the Teith, in the south- 
west portion of Perthshire. See map. — 91. Effect of this alliteration ? — 
moss = bog ? morass ? district abounding in bogs or in peat ? — moor = 
extensive waste with here and there peat marshes, or patches of heath ? — 
93. liOChard, or Loch Ard. The name means ' upper lake.' A pretty 
little lake in Perthshire, one source of the river Forth ; about five miles 
south of Loch Katrine, and two west of the village of Aberfoyle. — Aber- 
foyle =' junction of the pools.' — These are made famous in Scott's Roh 
Roy and Waverly. — 95. Achray. This picturesque lakelet, also in 
Perthshire, is about fifteen miles N.W. of Stirling. — Achray is * the lake 
of the level field' ? — 97. Benvenue, said to mean 'little mountain,' 
2386 ft. high. Called 'the Centre Mountain,' as half way between Ben 
Lomond and Ben Ledi? — 98. In this line the MS. has thought instead of 
' hope,' and, in 1. 99, hoof instead of ' foot.' Why the changes? 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 17 

Held westward with unwearied race, 100 

And left behind the panting chase. 



VI. 

'Twere long to tell what steeds gave o'er, 

As swept the hunt through Cambusmore ; 

What reins were tightened in despair, 

When rose Benledi's ridge in air; 105 

Who flagged upon Bochastle's heath, 

Who shunned to stem the flooded Teith, — 

For twice that day, from shore to shore. 

The gallant stag swam stoutly o'er. 

Few were the stragglers, following far, no 

That reached the lake of Vennachar ; 

And when the Brigg of Turk was won. 

The headmost horseman rode alone. 



VII. 

Alone, but with unbated zeal, 

That horseman plied the scourge and steel ; 115 

For jaded now, and spent with toil, 

Embossed with foam, and dark with soil, 

While every gasp with sobs he drew, 

The laboring stag strained full in view. 



103. Cambusmore. The seat of a family named Buchanan, often 
visited by Scott in his youth. It is about two miles from Callander. For 
more, see ii, 271, on claymore. — 105. Benledi, 2882 ft. high, four miles 
W.N.W. from Callander. Celtic etymologists say the name means ' Mountain 
of God.' — 106. flagged. Ital. flaccei^e, to droop. — Bochastle's heath. 
A flat plain between Loch Vennachar and Callander. See iii, 774 ; iv, 411 ; 
V, 301 et seq. — 107. At Callander, two streams, the waters of five lochs, 
Voil, Lubnaig, Katrine, Achray, and Vennachar, unite to form the Teith, 
which flows into the Forth near Stirling. — flooded = swollen by rains ? 
— 108. shore. Correctly used here ? — 111. Vennachar, or Venachoir. 
an expansion of the river, means ' Lake of the Fair Valley.' It is a beau- 
tiful sheet of water 21 miles S.W. of Callander. — 112. Brigg = bridge. — 
Turk, a small stream from Glenfinlas. See map. 

114. unbated. Bate = abate. — Shakespeare uses ' unbated ' in the 
same sense, Mer. of Ven., II, vi, 11. — 115. steel. Material for the thing 
made of it? See v, 479. — 117. embossed. "When the hart is foamy 
at the mouth, we say that he is embossed." Turberville's Noble Art of 
VeneHe (1576). So' in Shakespeare repeatedly. — Fr. boss, Ital. hozza, a 



18 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO I. 

Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed, 120 

Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed, 

Fast on his flying traces came. 

And all but won that desperate game ; 

For, scarce a spear's length from his haunch, 

Vindictive toiled the bloodhounds stanch; 125 

Nor nearer might the dogs attain, 

Nor farther might the quarry strain. 

Thus up the margin of the lake. 

Between the precipice and brake, 

O'er stock and rock their race they take. 130 



VIII. 

The Hunter marked that mountain high, 

The lone lake's western boundary. 

And deemed the stag must turn to bay. 

Where that huge rampart barred the way ; 

Already glorying in the prize, 135 

Measured his antlers with his eyes ; 

For the death-wound and death-halloo 

Mustered his breath, his whinyard drew : — 

But thundering as he came prepared, 

With ready arm and weapon bared, 140 



swellin,^. — 120. Hubert's. " Commonly black . . . yet ... we find 
them of all colors. . . . The abbots of St. Hubert have always kept some 
... in honor ... of the saint, which was a hunter with S. Eustace. 
Whereupon we may conceive that (by the grace of God) all good hunts- 
men shall follow them into Paradise." Tarberville, quoted above. — 
125. stanch. Metaphor from a ship ? strong and tight, sound ; reliable ? — 
Fr. stanche, Sp. sto?ico, water-tight. — 127. quarry = game slaughtered, 
or hunted near to death. So repeatedly in Shakespeare. — Lat. coj^ium, 
skin, hide. The portion given to the dogs was wrapped in the skin of the 
beast. — 129. brake = thicket ? ferns? bushes? — Ger. bmch, Dut. brak, 
broken, rough ground. — 130. stock = log? stump? — A.S. stocc, a trunk 
of a tree. Akin to stick and stake. — ' Stock and rock.' " The jingle helps 
the memory." Taylor. Better than this, the analogy of abrupt sounds 
suggests the roughness ? 

i;51. that mountain. Which? — 133. to bay = to face and fight his 
pursuers? Frencha^oi, barking. Says Scott, "When the stag turned to 
bay, the ancient hunter had the" perilous task of going in upon and killing 
or disabling the desperate animal. At certain times of the year, this was 
held particularly dangerous, a wound received from a stag's horn being 
then deemed poisonous." See iv, G91 ; vi, 525. — 138. whinyard = short 
stout sword or knife; the same as the lohinger of the Lay of the Last 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 19 

The wily quarry shunned the shock, 

And turned him from the opposing rock ; 

Then, dashing down a darksome glen, 

Soon lost to hound and Hunter's ken, 

In the deep Trosachs' wildest nook 145 

His solitary refuge took. 

There, while close couched the thicket shed 

Cold dews and wild flowers on his head, 

He heard the baffled dogs in vain 

Rave through the hollow pass amain, 150 

Chiding the rocks that yelled again. 



IX. 

Close on the hounds the Hunter came, 

To cheer them on the vanished game ; 

But, stumbling in the rugged dell, 

The gallant horse exhausted fell. 155 

The impatient rider strove in vain 

To rouse him with the spur and rein, 

For the good steed, his labors o'er. 

Stretched his stiff limbs, to rise no more ; 

Then, touched with pity and remorse, 160 

He sorrowed o'er the expiring horse. 

" I little thought, when first thy rein 

I slacked upon the banks of Seine, 

That Highland eagle e'er should feed 

On thy fleet limbs, my matchless steed! • 165 



Minstrel, v, 7 [Taylor, Rolfe] ? — 142. turned him = turned the hunter ? 
turned himself? — The graceful, reflexive use of the personal pronouns 
has always been allowed in English poetry, iii, 148; iv, 698. — 144. ken, 
line 64. — Trosachs' = the rough or bristled territory [Graham] ? the 
whole country about Loch Katrine? the pass between Katrine and Ach- 
ray? The valley is wildly beautiful, the delight of all tourists. But no 
road, and scarcely a path, existed in it in the time of James V. — 147. 
close couched = while he lay close down on the ground for conceal- 
ment? — Lat. collocdre, to place together; Fr. coucher, to lay in bed; lie 
down. — 150. amain. A.S. maegen, strength, force, might. We say 
' with might and main.' — 151. chiding = scolding noisily? So it repeat- 
edly is in Shakespeare, who says of barking dogs, " Never did I hear Such 
gallant chiding." Mid. N. Dr., IV, i. 111, "112. 

160. pity iand remorse. Rather late! — 163. Seine. He had been 
in France in 153!), wooing Magdalen, daughter of Francis I, whom he 
married in 1537. She dying the same year," he married Mary of Guise a 



20 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO I. 

Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, 
That costs thy life, my gallant gray ! " 



Then through the dell his horn resounds, 

From vain pursuit to call the hounds. 

Back limped, with slow and crippled pace, 170 

The sulky leaders of the chase ; 

Close to their master's side they pressed 

With drooping tail and humbled crest ; 

But still the dingle's hollow throat 

Prolonged the swelling bugle-note. 175 

The owlets started from their dream. 

The eagles answered with their scream, 

Round and around the sounds were cast 

Till echo seemed an answering blast ; 

And on the Hunter hied his way, 180 

To join some comrades of the day, 

Yet often paused, so strange the road. 

So wondrous were the scenes it showed. 



XI. 

The western waves of ebbing day 

Rolled o'er the glen their level way ; 185 

Each purple peak, each flinty spire. 

Was bathed in floods of living fire. 

year afterwards. — 1()6. worth = be to. Hardly used, except in the 
phrase, " Woe worth the day! " i.e. Evil he to the day. A.S. iveorthan, 
to turn to, become. Akin to Lat. vert-ere, to turn. Skeat. — Spenser has, 
" Wo worth the man." See in Ezekiel, xxx, 2, " Woe worth the day! " 

173. humbled crest. Proper? — We say ' crest-fallen.' — 174-. din- 
gle's. The word is akin to ' dip ' and ' dimple.' 

ISO. MS. And on the hunter hied his pace. 

To meet some comrades of tlie chase. 

Were the changes improvements? Why? 

184. Scott's description of the Trosachs is universally admired. It was 
written amid this scenery in 1809. Says the Quarterly Review, May 1810, 
" The rocks, the ravines, and the torrents which he exhibits, are not the 
imperfect sketches of a hurried traveller, but the finished sketches of a 
resident artist." — Point out, one by one, its excellences. Note the promi- 
nence of color. See on 200. — 185. Why level? — l^'d. pinnacle. Double 
diminutive from Lat. innna, feather; hence, a feather-like adjunct to a 



CANTO I.] rilE CHASE. 21 

But not a setting beam could glow 

Within the dark ravines below, 

Where twined the path in shadow hid 190 

Round many a rocky pyramid, 

Shooting abruptly from the dell 

Its thunder-splintered pinnacle ; 

Round many an insulated mass, 

The native bulwarks of the pass, 195 

Huge as the tower which builders vain 

Presumptuous piled on Shinar's plain. 

The rocky summits, split and rent, 

Formed turret, dome, or battlement, 

Or seemed fantastically set 200 

With cupola or minaret. 

Wild crests as pagod ever decked, 

Or mosque of Eastern architect. 

Nor were these earth-born castles bare. 

Nor lacked they many a banner fair ; 205 

For, from their shivered brows displayed, 

Far o'er the unfathomable glade. 

All twinkling with the dewdrop sheen. 

The brier-rose fell in streamers green, 

And creeping shrubs of thousand dyes 210 

Waved in the west-wind's summer sighs. 



building. Skeat. — 194. insulated. Lat. insula, island; from in and 
scdo, the main sea, literally the sivell of the sea. Skeat. — 195. bul- 
-warks. Dan. bul, Eng. bole, a log ; Ger. bolliverk, orig. a work made of 
logs or planks. — 196. MS. "The mimic castles of the pass." Improved? 

— 19(i, 197. Shinar's plain was probably Babylonia. See Genesis, xi, 1-9. 
— 199. battlement. Old Fr. battaille, a turret. A parapet with em- 
brasures? — See ii, 702. — 201. cupola. Orig. a sort of dome from Low 
Lat. eupa, a cup, from its cup-like shape. Skeat. — minaret. Arabic 
raandrat (from »«>, to shine), a candlestick, lamp, lighthouse; turret on 
a mosque; Span. ?>iinare^e, a high slender turret. Ske((t. — 202. pagod. 
From Pers. but, an idol, image, God; and kadah, a habitation. Skeat. — 
204. MS. " Nor were these mightij bulioarks bare." Bettered in the 
printing? — 207. glade. Orig. an open space in a wood, letting in the 
light (icel. gladr, shining). Propriety of the word 'unfathomable'? — 
208. sheen. See iv, 286, v, 10. — A.S. scene, Ger. schon, beautiful; showy, 
fair. Has the word 'shine' imparted the notion of bright, shining? — 

208. MS. '^Bright glistening with the dewdrop sheen."" Improved? — 

209. green. Ruskin {Modei-n Painters, iii, 278) calls attention to Scott's 
' love of color ' as an ingredient in his love of beauty. Is the trait Celtic? 

— See 184 ; iii, 20. 



22 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO 1. 



XII. 

Boon nature scattered, free and wild, 

Each plant or flower, the mountain's child. 

Here eglantine embalmed the air, 

Hawthorn and hazel miugled there; 215 

The primrose pale and violet flower 

Found in each clift a narrow bower ; 

Foxglove and nightshade, side by side, 

Emblems of punishment and pride. 

Grouped their dark hues with every stain 220 

The weather-beaten crags retain. 

With boughs that quaked at every breath, 

Gray birch and aspen wept beneath ; 

Aloft, the ash and warrior oak 

Cast anchor in the rifted rock ; 225 

And, higher yet, the pine-tree hung 

His shattered trunk, and frequent flung, 

Where seemed the cliffs to meet on high. 

His boughs athwart the narrowed sky. 

Highest of all, where white peaks glanced, 230 

Where glistening streamers waved and danced, 

The wanderer's eye could barely view 

The summer heaven's delicious blue ; 

So wondrous wild, the whole might seem 

The scenery of a fairy dream. 235 



212. boon = bounteous ? — A 'boon' was originally a favor asked 
(Icel. hon, a petition) ; but the meaning became modified by the French 
hon, Lat. bonus, good. In Paj\ Lost, IV, 2i2, 'nature boon' is bountiful 
nature. — 214. eglantine = sweet-brier? Probably from Late Lat. acu- 
leiitus, prickly; acus, Fr. aiguilla, a needle. — 217. clift = cleft. 'Cliff 
was restored by Rolf e from the 1st edition. It would seem to be from 
Icel. kluft, a cleft, or cleave, to split; whereas 'cliff' is apparently from 
A.S. cUf, to cleave to, or Icel. klif. to climb. Skeat. — bower. A.S. 
hur, a chamber; huan, to dwell. — See ii, 112; iv, 413; v, 192; G, 218. 
Hall and bower are often coupled. — 219. emblems. Ruskin points out 
" Scott's habit of drawing a slight moral from every scene . . . and that 
this slight moral is almost always melancholy." See ii, 10-16; iii, 27, 28. 
— 222,223. Note the imperfect rhyme. Is it "a blemish ? — 224. warrior. 
Why this epithet? anything to suggest anchor? — 221. MS. has scathed 
for ' shattered ' ; ' rugged arms athwart the sky ' in 1. 229; twinkling for 
' glistening ' in 231. Well? — 231. streamers. What were these? vines? 
pendent boughs ? 



CAXTO I.] THE CHASE. 23 



XIII. 

Onward, amid the copse 'gan peep 

A narrow inlet, still and deep. 

Affording scarce such breadth of brim 

As served the wild duck's brood to swim. 

Lost for a space, through thickets veering, 240 

But broader when again appearing. 

Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face 

Could on the dark-blue mirror trace ; 

And farther as the Hunter strayed, 

Still broader sweep its channels made. 245 

The shaggy mounds no longer stood. 

Emerging from entangled wood, 

But, wave-encircled, seemed to float. 

Like castle girdled with its moat ; 

Yet broader floods extending still 250 

Divide them from their parent hill, 

Till each, retiring, claims to be 

An islet in an inland sea. 



XIV. 

And now, to issue from the glen. 

No pathway meets the wanderer's ken, 255 

Unless he climb with footing nice 

A far-projecting precipice. 

The broom's tough roots his ladder made, 

The hazel saplings lent their aid ; 

And thus an airy point he won, 260 

Where, gleaming with the setting sun, 

230. gan. Imperf. of obsolete gii). It was formerly much used with 
the infinitive, as did is used, to form compound imperfects. — Not = began. 

28S. MS. Affording' scarce such breadth of j^ooti 

As served to float the wild duck's brood. 

Improved? — 240. veering. Low Lat. virola, a binding ring, ferule; Fr. 
vivr, to turn about in sailing. — What seems to be veering? — 247. MS. 
* Emerging dinj-shod from the wood.' Wise fo change it? 

256. Unless, etc. — "Until the present road was made tlirough the 
romantic pass which I have presumptuously attempted to describe . . . 
there was no mode of issuing out of the defile called the Trosachs, except- 
ing by a sort of ladder composed of the branches and roots of trees." 
Scott. — 258. broom. Describe the plant. — 262. living = apparently 



24 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO I. 

One burnished sheet of living gold, 

Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled, 

In all her length far winding lay, 

With promontory, creek, and bay, 265 

And islands that, empurpled bright. 

Floated amid the livelier light, 

And mountains that like giants stand 

To sentinel enchanted land. 

High on the south, huge Benvenue 270 

Down to the lake in masses threw 

Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurled, 

The fragments of an earlier world ; 

A wildering forest feathered o'er 

His ruined sides and summit hoar, 275 

While on the north, through middle air, 

Ben-an heaved high his forehead bare. 



XV. 



From the steep promontory gazed 
The stranger, raptured and amazed, 



alive? stirring as if alive? — 263. Loch Katrine. This beautiful lake, 
which the genius of Scott has invested with undying interest, is about five 
miles east of Loch Lomond, and nearly ten west of Callander. It is about 
nine miles long and two broad, surrounded by mountains and lofty cliffs, 
with deep, rocky, well-wooded ravines. It supplies Glasgow with water. 
Scott derives the name from the ' Catterins or Ketterins, a wild band of 
robbers.' — 267. livelier, 'because in motion' [Rolfe] ? See 1. 262. — 
270. See 1. 97.-272. confusedly. " A trisyllable," says Rolfe. But is it 
not better to let the sound echo the sense, retaining the four syllables? — 
274. wildering = bewildering ? — " The sense of bewilder is to lead into 
a wilderness." Skeat. See v, 22. — 

275. MS. His ruined sides and /ra^'men^s hoar, 
While on the north to middle air. 

Better? — 277. Ben-an, 1800 ft. high, between the Trosachs and Glenfin- 
las. See Map. 

Of the preceding description, beginning at line 184, the Critical Revieio 
(Aug. 1820) remarks, " Perhaps the art of landscape-painting in poetry 
has never been displayed in higher perfection than in these stanzas." — 
Is the picture too minute?; Does the description detain us too long? 
" Not so the magnificent scene which bursts upon the bewildered hunter 
as he emei'ges at length from the dell, and commands, at one view, the 
beautiful expanse of Loch Katrine." — 

278. MS. From the high promontory gazed 

The stranger, atoe-struck and amazed. 



CAXTO T.] THE CHAISE. 25 

And, "What a scene were here," he cried, 280 

"Tor princely pomp or churchman's pride! 

On this bold brow, a lordly tower; 

In that soft vale, a lady's bower; 

On yonder meadow far away, 

The turrets of a cloister gray : 285 

How blithely might the bugle-horn 

Chide on the lake the lingering morn! 

How sweet at eve the lover's lute 

Chime when the groves were still and mute ! 

And when the midnight moon should lave 290 

Her forehead in the silver wave, 

How solemn on the ear would come 

The holy matins' distant hum, 

While the deep peal's ccmmanding tone 

Should wake, in yonder islet lone, 295 

A sainted hermit from his cell. 

To drop a bead with every knell ! 

And bugle, lute, and bell, and all. 

Should each bewildered stranger call 

To friendly feast and lighted hall. 300 

XVI. 

" Blithe were it then to wander here ! 
But now — beshreAv yon nimble deer — 
Like that same hermit's, thin and spare. 
The copse must give my evening's fare ; ' 

Test the propriety of the changes. — 281. churchman — one holding high 
office in the cluirch [Rolf e] ? clergyman ? member of the Established 
Church of England? priest? — 285. cloister = monastery? nunnery? 
convent? covered ambulatory (place to walk in) around the inner court 
of a college or religious house? — Old Fr. doistre, from Lat. claustrum, 
enclosure; claudei^e, to close. — 287. chide. Line 151. — 290. The 1st ed. 
has 'did lave.' Preference? — See line 4. — 293. matins' = morning 
prayers? morning songs? — Lat. Matuta, Roman goddess of the morning. 
See" ii, 3; v, 15. — 2SW. Effect of the metrical change? Line 73. — 
297. bead. A.S. biddan, to pray. Orig. a bead was a prayer; afterwards 
a perforated ball used in counting prayers. On a rosary the Ave Marias 
(Hail Mary!) were marked by small beads; the Paternosters (Our 
Father) by larger ones. — 

300. MS. To hospitable feast and hall. 

Justify the change? — Taylor says, " The key to the stanza is in the last 
couplet." Vei'ify or disprove it. 

302. beshrew = plague on ? — Line 81. — The imprecation is often play- 



20 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cAXTO I. 

Some mossy bank my couch must be, 305 

Some rustling oak my canopy. 

Yet pass we that ; the war and chase 

Give little choice of resting-place ; — 

A summer night in greenwood spent 

Were but to-morrow's merriment : 310 

But hosts may in these wilds abound, 

Such as are better missed than found ; 

To meet with Highland plunderers here 

Were worse than loss of steed or deer. — 

I am alone ; — my bugle-strain 315 

May call some straggler of the train ; 

Or, fall the worst that may betide, 

Ere now this falchion has been tried." 



XVII. 

But scarce again his horn he wound. 

When lo ! forth starting at the sound, 320 

From underneath an aged oak 

That slanted from the islet rock, 

A damsel guider of its way, 

A little skiff shot to the bay, 

That round the promontory steep 325 

Led its deep line in graceful sweep. 



ful or affectionate, as where Portia says to Bassanio, whom she worships, 
" Beshrew your eyes! " Mer. of Ven., Ill, ii, 14. — 30G. canopy. Orio:. a 
mosquito-bar, from ku^ivwxIj, konops, a grub or mosquito ; theu a bed with 
mosquito curtains. 

805. MS. And holloiv truvh of siome old tree 
My chamber for the night must be. 

Why the cliange ? — 313. Highland plunderers. These in the time of 
James V were "mucli addicted to predatory incursions upon their Low- 
land neiglibors." — 31(i. fall the worst that may betide. So Shakes. 
" An (i.e. if) tlie worst fall, that ever fell." Mer. of Ven., I, ii, 77, 78. — 
318. falchion. Properly a broad-bladed sword, slightly curved, used in 
the Middle Ages. See 4(^(3. — 

319. MS. Tlie bugle shrill ajrain he wound, 

And lo 1 I'ortli starting at the sound. 
Bettered?— 

324. MS. A little skiflf shot to the bay. 

The Hunter left his airy stand. 

And when the boat had touched the sand, 

Concealed he stood amid the brake, 

To ^^ew this Lady of the Lake. 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 27 

Eddying, in almost viewless wave, 

The w^eeping willow twig to lave, 

And kiss, wdtli whispering sound and slow, 

The beach of pebbles bright as snow. 330 

The boat had touched this silver strand 

Just as the Hunter left his stand 

And stood concealed amid the brake, 

To view this Lady of the Lake. 

The maiden paused, as if again 335 

She thought to catch the distant strain. 

With head upraised, and look intent, 

And QjQ and ear attentive bent, 

And Jocks flung back, and lips apart. 

Like monument of Grecian art, 340 

In listening mood, she seemed to stand 

The guardian Naiad of the strand. 



XVIII. 

And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace 

A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace, 

Of finer form or lovelier face ! 345 

What though the sun, with ardent frown. 

Had slightly tinged her cheek Avith brown, — 

The sportive toil, which, short and light. 

Had dyed her glowing hue so bright, 

Served too in hastier swell to show 350 

Short glimpses of a breast of snow : 



How as to these changes? — 331. silver strand. The 'second thought,' 
which suggested these two words, was particularly happy. The ' silver 
strand' is an object of interest to every tourist. — 3J0. Grecian; there- 
fore well-nigh perfect ? — 

342. Naiad = a fresh-water nymph ? — The Naiads were inferior deities 
in the form of beautiful virgins. They presided over lakes, rivers, brooks, 
and fountains. — 

344. Nymph. Originally a veiled one, a bride. The Greek imagina- 
tion peopled all regions with exquisitely beautiful goddesses called nymphs. 
There were many orders of these lower deities. — Grace. The Graces 
were three sisters, attendants of Venus; viz., Agla'ia (brightness), Eu- 
phrdsyne (gladness), Thali'a (bloom). " An aesthetic conception of all 
that is beautiful in the physical as well as in the social world." — 

345. MS. A finer form, a fairer face 

Had never marble Nymph or Grace, 
Tliat boasts the Grecian chisel's trace. 



28 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO I. 

What though no rule of courtly grace 

To measured mood had trained her pace, 

A foot more light, a step more true, 

Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew ; 355 

E'en the slight harebell raised its head, 

Elastic from her airy tread : 

What though upon her speech there hung 

The accents of the mountain tongue, — 

Those silver sounds, so soft, so dear, 360 

The listener held his breath to hear ! 



XIX. 

A chieftain's daughter seemed the maid ; 

Her satin snood, her silken plaid. 

Her golden brooch, such birth betrayed. 

And seldom was a snood amid 365 

Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid, 

Whose glossy black to shame might bring 

The plumage of the raven's wing ; 

And seldom o'er a breast so fair 

Mantled a plaid with modest care, 370 

And never brooch the folds combined 

Above a heart more good and kind. 

Her kindness and her worth to spy, 

You need but gaze on Ellen's eye ; 

Not Katrine in her mirror blue 375 

Gives back the shaggy banks more true 

Than every free-born glance confessed 

The guileless movements of her breast ; 



Reason for the changes ? — 353. measured mood = studied behavior 
[Ginn] ? The formal manner required by court etiquette [Rolfe] ? — 
356, 357. What truth, if any, underlies this poetic fancy? — 359. The MS. 
has ' stranger tongue.' Improvement ? — 

363. snood. The ribbon or head-band that binds the hair of a Scotch 
girl. It is emblematic of maidenhood. See iii, 114, 116, 485. ^ It Avas 
exchanged for the curch, toy, or coif, when she married. — plaid, pro- 
nounced in Scotland, so as to rhyme as here, was a rectangular piece of 
woollen cloth; usually checkered with threads of various bright colors, 
but sometimes plaiu gray, or gray with black stripes. It was wrapped 
around the body, fastened with a belt, and hung gracefully to the knee. 
It was worn as an outer garment by both sexes. Each clan had its own 
peculiarly striped or checkered plaid. — 364. brooch = breastpin? Akin 
to Gaelic hroy, awl. — such birth betrayed. It was the material, satin, 



CAXTO T.] THE CHASE. 29 

Whether joy danced in her dark eye, 

Or woe or pity claimed a sigh, 380 

Or filial love was glowing there, 

Or meek devotion poured a prayer. 

Or tale of injury called forth 

The indignant spirit of the North. 

One only passion unrevealed 385 

With maiden pride the maid concealed, 

Yet not less purely felt the flame ; — 

Oh ! need I tell that passion's name ? 



XX. 

Impatient of the silent horn, 

Now on the gale her voice was borne : — 390 

" Father ! " she cried ; the rocks around 

Loved to prolong the gentle sound. 

Awhile she paused, no answer came ; — 

"Malcolm, was thine the blast?" the name 

Less resolutely uttered fell, 395 

The echoes could not catch the swell. 

" A stranger I," the Huntsman said. 

Advancing from the hazel shade. 

The maid, alarmed, with hasty oar 

Pushed her light shallop from the shore, 400 

And when a space was gained between. 

Closer she drew her bosom's screen ; — 

So forth the startled swan would swing, . 

So turn to prune his ruffled wing. 

silk, or gold. — 385. one only = only one ? So in Shakespeare's Jul. Csefi. 
I, ii, 153, ' one only man ' ; and in Goldsmith's Deserted Village, 1. 39, * one 
only master.' — Why not write ' only one passion ' ? — 388. Oil I Too effu- 
sive? sentimental? — See on v, 35. — 
395. less resolutely. Why? — 

393. MS. A space she paused, no answer came, — 
" Alpine, was thine the blast? " the name 
Less resolutely uttered fell. 
The echoes could not catch the swell. 
" Nor foe, nor friend," the stranger said, 
Advancing- from the hazel shade. 
The startled maid, with hasty oar, 
Pushed her light shallop from the shore. 

400. shallop. Fr. chaloupe, a launch. A boat of any size? — 

403. MS. So o'er the lake the swan would spring. 
Then turn to prune its ruffled wing. 



30 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CAXTO T. 

Then safe, though fluttered and amazed, 405 

She paused, and on the stranger gazed. 
Not his the form, nor his the eye, 
That youthful maidens wont to fly. 

XXI. 

On his bold visage middle age 

Had slightly pressed its signet sage, 4io 

Yet had not quenched the open truth 

And fiery vehemence of youth ; 

Forward and frolic glee was there, 

The will to do, the soul to dare, 

The sparkling glance, soon blown to fire, 415 

Of hasty love or headlong ire. 

His limbs were cast in manly mould 

For hardy sports or contest bold ; 

And though in peaceful garb arrayed. 

And weaponless except his blade, 420 

His stately mien as well implied 

A high-born heart, a martial pride, 

As if a baron's crest he wore. 

And sheathed in armor trode the shore. 

Slighting the petty need he showed, 425 

He told of his benighted road : 

His ready speech flowed fair and free. 

In phrase of gentlest courtesy, 

Yet seemed that tone and gesture bland 

Less used to sue than to command. 430. 



Comment on these changes. — 404. prune = pick out damaged feathers 
and arrange the plumage with the bill [Rolfe]? — Fr. provif/)ie}% to lay- 
down vine" shoots for propagation; hence, probably, the meaning, to cut 
away superfluous shoots. Web. Lit. Diet. — 408. wont (pron. tviint) = are 
accustomed, or past tense, loere accustomed? — >ro/*^ = will not. Note 
the different pronunciation. — A.S. lounian ; Old. Eng. ivonen ; Ger. 
loohnen. to dwell, live; A.S. wiina, custom. — 

40!». middle age. He died at thirty, in 1.542. His father, James IV, 
was killed at Flodden. His daughter was Mary, Queen of Scots. His 
grandchild became James I of England. — See Scott's Tales of a Grand- 
fatlipr, in which he relates interesting anecdotes about the King's adven- 
tures while disguised. He was fond of love-making and gallantries. — 
425. slighting, etc., = making light of his paltry need of food and lodging? 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 31 



XXII. 

Awhile the maid the stranger eyed, 

And, reassured, at length replied. 

That Highland halls were o^ien still 

To wildered wanderers of the hill. 

" Nor think you unexpected come 435 

To yon lone isle, our desert home ; 

Before the heath had lost the dew, 

This morn, a couch was pulled for you ; 

On yonder mountain's purple head 

Have ptarmigan and heath-cock bled, 440 

And our broad nets have swept the mere, 

To furnish forth your evening cheer.'' — 

"Now, by the rood, my lovely maid. 

Your courtesy has erred," he said ; 

"No right have I to claim, misplaced, 445 

The welcome of expected guest. 

A wanderer, here by fortune tost, 

My way, my friends, my courser, lost, 

I ne'er before, believe me, fair, 

Have ever drawn your mountain air, 450 

Till on this lake's romantic strand 

-I found a fay in fairy land ! " — 

XXIII. 

"I well believe," the maid replied, 

As her light skiff approached the side, — 

"I well believe, that ne'er before 455 

Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore ; 

But yet, as far as yesternight, 

Old Allan-bane foretold your plight, — 

43.1. MS. '' Tier fathej^'s hall was open still." Why chanoced? — 434. 
wildered. Line 274.-438. couch. See lines fi66, ()67.— 440. ptar- 
migan = reddish brown grouse or moor fowl. In Scott the bird appears 
to be lohite. See ii, 541. Tlie word is Gaelic. The heath-cock are black. 
— 441. mere. Akin to Lat. mare, sea; Ir. and Gael. muir. — We have 
the word in Winder-mere, Gras-mere, etc. — 443. rood = erncifix or 
cross. Bi/ the rood was a common oath. — A.S. rod, cross. — Holyrood 
in ii, '221. is oris:, holy cross. — 451. romantic. The MS. has enchanting . 
Bettered? — 452. fay. French, /e'e, fairy; Lat. /«<?^?n, fate. — 

457. yesternight. Ger. gestern, yesterday ; Lat. hesternus, of yes- 



32 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CAXTO I. 

A gray-haired sire, whose eye intent 

Was on the visioned future bent. 4G0 

He saw your steed, a dappled gray, 

Lie dead beneath the birchen way; 

Painted exact your form and mien. 

Your hunting-suit of Lincohi green, 

That tasselled horn so gayly gilt, 465 

That falchion's crooked blade and hilt, 

That cap with heron plumage trim. 

And yon two hounds so dark and grim. 

He bade that all should ready be 

To grace a guest of fair degree ; 470 

But light I held his prophecy. 

And deemed it was my father's horn 

Whose echoes o'er the lake were borne." 

XXIV. 

The stranger smiled : — " Since to your home 

A destined errant-knight I come, 475 

Announced by prophet sooth and old. 

Doomed, doubtless, for achievement bold, 

I'll lightly front each high emprise 

For one kind glance of those bright eyes. 

Permit me first the task to guide 480 

Your fairy frigate o'er the tide." 

The maid, with smile suppressed and sly. 

The toil unwonted saw him try ; 

terday. — Is the word now used? — See v, 104; vi, 757.-460. The MS. has 
"/.§ often on the future bent." Has the change helped? — In this and the 
dozen following lines, Scott introduces the belief in "Second Sight," a 
faculty of seeing what was invisible to the eye, because absent or future. 
He says, "Innumerable examples might be added, all attested by grave 
and credible authors. But, in despite of evidence which neither Bacon, 
Boyle, nor Johnson were [sic] able to resist, the TcdsJi, with all its 
visionary properties, seems to be now universally abandoned to the use 
of poetry." See Campbell's LodiieVs Warning. — 461. dappled. Icel. 
depill, a spot. Akin to di}->, dimple, not apple. "The resemblance of 
dapple grey to ... ' apple-grey,' Fr. gris pommele, is accidental." 
Wedgwood. — 4(52. birchen. Like cedarn in Milton's Comus, 1. 990. — 
464. Lincoln green. Cloth made in Lincoln, and much worn by hunters. 
See iv, o7(), 575 ; v, 452 : vi, 7;^8. 

475. errant-kniglit, usually knight-errant. Lat. errare, to wander. 
The knight-errant travelled in quest of adventures. See vi, 199. — 
476. sooth = true? See iv, 250; v, 64; Milton has soothest, in Comus, 
823. We nse forsooth, soothsayer, etc. — A.S. soct, true. — 478. emprise. 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 33 

For seldom, sure, if e'er before, 

His noble hand had grasped an oar: 485 

Yet with main strength his strokes he drew, 

And o'er the lake the shallop flew ; 

With heads erect and whimpering cry, 

The hounds behind their passage ply. 

Nor frequent does the bright oar break 490 

The darkening mirror of the lake, 

Until the rocky isle they reach. 

And moor their shallop on the beach. 



XXV. 

The stranger viewed the shore around; 

'Twas all so close with copsewood bound, 495 

Nor track nor pathwa}^ might declare 

That human foot frequented there, 

Until the mountain maiden showed 

A clambering unsuspected road, 

That winded through the tangled screen, 500 

And opened on a narrow green, 

Where, weeping birch and willow round 

With their long fibres swept the ground. 

Here, for retreat in dangerous hour, 

Some chief had framed a rustic bower. 505 

XXVI. 

It w^as a lodge of ample size, 

But strange of structure and device ; 

Of such materials as around 

The workman's hand had readiest found. 

Archaic, iov enterprise . — 485. MS. has 'this gentle hand.' Good change? 

— 48(J. his strokes. For this tlie MS. has the oars. Why change? — 
490. frequent. Such adverbial use is quite common in Shakespeare. 

— 492. rocky isle. This will always be known as Elleu's Isle. It con- 
tains two or three acres. The dark gray rocks, mottled with lichens, rise 
abruptly twenty to fifty feet. Beautiful ferns and honeysuckles, lovely 
heather, graceful mountain-ash trees, and a few pines — these may 
be added to the description in the poem. Analyze it. — 500. winded. 
This, for loound, is very rare. Allowable now? — See v, 22. — 504. re- 
treat in dangerous hour. "The Celtic chieftains," says Scott, "had 
usually, in the most retired spot of their domains, some place of retreat 
. . . which, as circumstances would admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a 



34 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO T. 

Lopped of their boughs, their hoar trunks bared, 5io 

And by the hatchet rudely squared, 

To give the walls their destined height, 

The sturdy oak and ash unite ; 

While moss and clay and leaves combined 

To fence each crevice from the wind. 515 

The lighter pine-trees overhead 

Their slender length for rafters spread, 

And withered heath and rushes dry 

Supplied a russet canopy. 

Due westward, fronting to the green, 520 

A rural portico was seen, 

Aloft on native pillars borne. 

Of mountain fir with bark unshorn. 

Where Ellen's hand had taught to twine 

The ivy and Idsean vine, 525 

The clematis, the favored flower 

Which boasts the name of virgin-bower. 

And every hardy plant could bear 

Loch Katrine's keen and searching air. 

An instant in this porch she stayed, 530 

And gayly to the stranger said : 

"On heaven and on thy lady call, 

And enter the enchanted hall ! " 

XXVII. 

" My hope, my heaven, my trust must be, 

My gentle guide, in following thee ! " — 535 

He crossed the threshold, — and a clang 

Of angry steel that instant rang. 

To his bold brow his spirit rushed, 

But soon for vain alarm he blushed, 

rustic hut, in a strong and secluded situation." — 525. Idaean vine = red 
whortleberry [Taylor] ? The common vine [Rolfe] ? The botanical name 
of the red whortleberry is Vaccinium vitis Idsea, but it is not a climber. 
Idsean is from Mt. Ida near Troy, famous for vines [Taylor] ? or from Mt. 
Ida in Crete [Rolfe]? — 526. clematis, a genus of flowering plants of 
many species, mostly climbers . . . called also v?>f/iH's 6ower. — 528. Note 
the ellipsis of the relative pronoun. Such omission is very common in 
Scott and Shakespeare. See iv, 147; vi, 540.— 532. On heaven, etc. 
She playfully bids him follow the usage of knights-errant. Line 475. — 
53G. clang. Strikingly imitative?— 542. careless. See 1. 490.— 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 35 

When on the floor he saw displayed, 540 

Cause of the din, a naked blade 

Dropped from the sheath, that careless flung 

Upon a stag's huge antlers swung ; 

For all around, the walls to grace. 

Hung trophies of the fight or chase ; 545 

A target there, a bugle here, 

A battle-axe, a hunting- spear, 

And broadswords, bows, and arrows store, 

With the tusked trophies of the boar. 

Here grins the wolf as when he died, 55U 

And there the wild-cat's brindled hide 

The frontlet of the elk adorns, 

Or mantles o'er the bison's horns ; 

Pennons and flags defaced and stained, 

That blackening streaks of blood retained, 555 

And deer-skins, dappled, dun, and white, 

With otter's fur and seal's unite, 

In rude and uncouth tapestry all. 

To garnish forth the sylvan hall. 

XXYIII. 

The wondering stranger round him gazed, 560 

And next the fallen weapon raised : — 

Few were the arms whose sinewy strength 

Sufficed to stretch it forth at length. 

And as the brand he poised and swayed, 

"I never kneAv but one." he said, 565 

546. target. Small shield, buckler. A.S. targe ; Fr. targe, a shield. 
See iii, 445 ; v, 380. — 548. store = laid up, an obsolete adjective [Rolfe] '? 
in abundance, plenty? Lat. instam-are, to build, renew; Old Fr. estor, 
provisions, supplies; estorer, to store. — Milton has, in L' Allegro, — 

" With store of ladies, whose bright eyes 
liain inriuence, and adjudge the prize." 

— Not 'laid up' or 'stored' ladies! See iii, 3; vi, 124; 539.-549. tro- 
phies. Where the tide of battle was turned (Greek rpen-etv, trepein, to 
turn), a monument was erected, and hung with captured arms, etc., called 
trophies. — 

551. MS. There 7j?/?j5' the wild-cat's hriiidled hide. 

Above the elk's branched broio and sJctill, 

And frontlet of xho forest bull. 

WelUhan^ed? — 556. See iii, 300. —559. garuish forth. Like fiiniish 
forth,!. 442. 



36 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO I. 

" Whose stalwart arm might brook to wield 

A blade like this in battle-field." 

She sighed, then smiled and took the word: 

" You see the guardian champion's sword ; 

As light it trembles in his hand 570 

As in my grasj) a hazel wand : 

My sire's tall form might grace the part 

Of Ferragus or Ascabart ; 

But in the absent giant's hold 

Are women now, and menials old." 575 



XXIX. 

The mistress of the mansion came, 

Mature of age, a graceful dame, 

Whose easy step and stately port 

Had well become a princely court ; 

To whom, though more than kindred knew, 580 

Young Ellen gave a mother's due. 

Meet welcome to her guest she made. 

And every courteous rite was paid 

That hospitality could claim, 

Though all unasked his birth and name. 585 

566. brook = enclui-e ? A.S. hrucan ; Old E. broken, bniken, to use, 
enjoy, digest; Lat. frui, to enjoy; ii, 761; iii, 77, 519. —573. Ferragus 
or Ascabart. — Ferragus alias Ferrate, a Saracen giant slain by Orlando 
in single combat, as told by Ariosto in Orlando Furioso. Having dropped 
his helmet in a river, he made a vow never to wear another till he won 
Orlando's. The Auchinleck MS. makes him forty feet in height, with 
twenty men's strength. Ascabart was thirty feet high. Under his arm 
he " carried off Sir Be vis of Hampton, his wife, sword, and steed." His 
effigy is on one side of the city gate at Southampton, that of Sir Bevis 
being on the other. Sir Bevis conquered him, and made him his slave. 
Drayton's Polyolhlon, ii. — " The knight-errant notion is kept up by 
reference to these heroes of chivalry and in the ' guardian champion.' " 
Taylor. 

^11. dame. Ellen's aunt. By father's or mother's side? ii, 250-2.34. 
— 578. port. Lat. portare, Fr. porter, to carry; port, carriage, behavior, 
demeanor. — 580. more than kindred knew = more than (such) kin- 
dred (usually) kneio (in way of affection) [Rolfe] ? to a greater extent 
than kindred were accustomed to receive ? — 

580. MS. To whom, thoug-h more remote her claim, 
Young Ellen gave a mother's name. 

Judicious change? Why? — 585. unasked, etc. "The Highlanders, 
who carried hospitality to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered 
it as churlish to ask a stranger his name or lineage before he had taken 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 37 

Such then the reverence to a guest 

That fellest foe might join the feast, 

And from his deadliest foeman's door 

Unquestioned turn, the banquet o'er. 

At length his rank the stranger names, 590 

'' The Knight of Snowdoiin, James Fitz-James ; 

Lord of a barren heritage, 

Which his brave sires, from age to age. 

By their good swords had held with toil 

His sire had fallen in such turmoil, 595 

And he, God wot, was forced to stand 

Oft for his right with blade in hand. 

This morning with Lord Moray's train 

He chased a stalwart stag in vain, 

Outstripped his comrades, missed the deer, (joo 

Lost his good steed, and wandered here." 



XXX. 

Fain would the Knight in turn require 

The name and state of Ellen's sire. 

Well showed the elder lady's mien 

That courts and cities she had seen ; 605 

Ellen, though more her looks displayed 

The simple grace of sylvan maid, 



refreshment." Scott. See the same considerate delicacy exquisitely 
illustrated in the treatment of Ulysses hy King AlcinouS in the eighth 
book of the Odyssey. — 587. fellest. X.^.fel = fierce, cruel. — 591. Snow- 
douii. See vi, 785-790. Stirling Castle was the favorite residence of 
James Y. — Fitz-James. Fltz is Lat. ///u^<f, Old ¥y. fils, fiz, son. — 
592. barren heritage. "Each chief was a petty king in his own dis- 
trict, and gave just so mucli obedience to the king's authority as suited 
his convenience." — 595. turmoil. James IV fell in battle Sept. 9, 1513; 
the battle so wonderfully described in Scott's Marmion. So the name 
and the description here given are substantially correct. — 596. wot = 
knows? knew? — Wit, obsolete, except in the phrase to loit, is from the 
same base as wise and vis-\on, Lat. vhl-es, 1 see ; for what one sees, he 
knows. Shakes, repeatedly uses the phrase, God wot. — See iv, 357. — 
Wot is strictly in Xh& present tense. 

602. require. Not demand. In Shakespeare it often means ask. So 
in Ezra, viii, 22. — See iv, 735. — 604. MS. has, " Well showed the mother's 
easy mien." Improved upon? Reason for your opinion? — 

GOG. MS. Ellen, thoug-h more her looks betrayed 
The simple heart of mountain maid. 

Why the change ? — 



38 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO T. 

In speech and gesture, form and face, 

Showed she was come of gentle race. 

'Twere strange in ruder rank to find 610 

Such looks, such manners, and such mind. 

Each hint the Knight of Snowdoun gave, 

Dame Margaret heard with silence grave ; 

Or Ellen, innocently ga}^. 

Turned all inquiry light away : — 615 

" Weird women we ! by dale and down 

We dwell, afar from tower and town : 

We stem the flood, we ride the blast, 

On wandering knights our spells we cast ; 

While viewless minstrels touch the string, 620 

'Tis thus our charmed rhymes we sing." 

She sung, and still a harp unseen 

Filled up the symphony between. 



XXXI. 

SONG. 

" Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er. 

Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking ; 625 

Dream of battled fields no more. 

Days of danger, nights of waking. 
In our isle's enchanted hall, 

Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, 



610. MS. 'Twas sti-ange, in hirth so rude, to find 
Such /ace, such manners, and such mind. 
Each anxious hint the stranger gave, 
The mother heard with silence grave. 

Test the propriety of these changes. — 616. weird = dealing in witchcraft, 
unearthly, supernatural? — A.S. loyrd, fate. Note the alliteration. — 
down = hill? — Gaelic duH = heap, hillock. A doion or dune is often a 
low rounded hill of sand thrown up by the wand. Is it so in Tennyson's 
Lady Clare, 

" She went by dale, and she went by down" ? 

622. a harp unseen. " Mr. Gunn, of Edinburgh, has lately published a 
curious Essay upon the Harp and Harp Music of the Highlands of Scot- 
land. That the instrument was once in common use there, is most cer- 
tain." Scott. — Are we to understand that this musical accompaniment 
was supernatural? What other explanation is possible? 

624. Note the change from the prevailing iambic metre to the trochaic. 
— No passage in the poem is better worthy of being memorized than this, 



CANTO T.] THE CHASE. 39 

Fairy strains of niiisio fall, " 630 

Every sense in slnmber dewing. 
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, 
Dream of fighting fields no more ; 
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, 
Morn of toil, nor night of waking. 635 

*' '^o rude sound shall reach thine ear, 

Armor's clang or w^ar-steed champing; 
Trump nor pibroch summon here 

Mustering clan or squadron tramping. 
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come 640 

At the daybreak from the fallow, 
And the bittern sound his drum. 

Booming from the sedgy shallow. 
Euder sounds shall none be near, 
Guards nor warders challenge here ; 645 

Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing, 
Shouting clans or squadrons stamping." 



beginning with line 616 and ending at 665. — 631. dewing. Of course the 
evening dew is often associated with sleep, as Shakes, suggests by his 
* golden dew of sleep ' in RicIko'cI III, TV, i, 83, and ' honey-heavy" dew 
of slumber' in Julius Csbscw, II, i, 230; but what analogy underlies the 
metaphor in music strains dewing the senses? — 

635. MS. "■Noonofhtmger, night of waking. 

No rude suiind shall rouse thine ear." 

Improvement? — 637. champing = biting with repeated action, impa- 
tiently or noisily? — Local Swedish kdmsa, to chew with dilRculty. — 
638. pibroch = bagpipe? — Gaelic pioba, a pipe, bagpipe. A pibrocJi is 
properly a kind of air or music played on the bagpipe among tlie Scotch 
Highlanders, suitable to arouse or allay some particular passion ; espe- 
cially an air so played before the Highlanders when they are going to 
battle. 

" IIow in the noon of night that pibroch thrills 

Savage and shrill ! But with the breath which fills 

Their mountain pipe, so fill the mountaineers 

With the fierce native daring, which instils 

The stirring memory of a thousand years." — Byron. 

641. fallow = untilled land? — A.S. fealo, yellow, unproductive. — 
642. bittern. A loading, fishing bird, allied to the lierons. During the 
brooding season it makes a noise which Dryden calls humping, and Gold- 
smith booming. Of all the notes of waterfowl, Goldsmith, in his Animated 
Nature, declares that "there is none so dismally hollow as the booming 
of the bittern." See iv, 791. — 643. sedgy = abounding in narrow flags 
or coarse marsh grass. — A.S. saga; Ger. silge, a saw, so called from its 
cutting edges. — 



40 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO 



XXXIT. 



She paused, — then, blusliing, led the lay, 

To grace the stranger of the day. 

Her mellow notes awhile prolong 650 

The cadence of the flowing song, 

Till to her lips in measured frame 

The minstrel verse spontaneous came. 



SONG CONTINUED. 

" Huntsman, rest ! thy chase is done ; 

While our slumbrous spells assail ye, G55 

IJream not, with the rising sun, 

Bugles here shall sound reveille. 
Sleep ! the deer is in his den ; 

Sleep ! thy hounds are by thee lying ; 
Sleep ! nor dream in yonder glen e,m 

How thy gallant steed lay dying. 
Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done; 
Think not of the rising sun ; 
For at dawning to assail ye 
Here no bugles sound reveille." GG5 

XXXIII. 

The hall was cleared, — the stranger's bed. 
Was there of mountain heather spread. 
Where oft a hundred guests had lain 
And dreamed their forest sports again. 



C4S. MS. She paused — hut loalced again the lay. 

Bettered ? 

655. MS. Slumber sweet our spells shall deal ye, 
and, in 657, 

Let our slumbrous spells \ Z^fj^y^ 

Comment !_ — 657. reveille. Fr. r/^w^/ZZes:, awake ye! Lat. 7'e, again ; ex, 
out; vigilare, to wake. — Tlie word is properly pronounced so as to rhyme 
fairly with the last two syllables of 655 ; but in the U. S. army it is com- 
monly pronounced rev-i-le'. — It is the military call, by drum-beat or 
bugle, about daybreak. 

609. MS. Aud dreamed thoir mountain chase ajj-ain. 



CANTO I.J THE CHASE. 41 

But vainly did the lieath-flower slied G70 

Its moorland fragrance round his head ; 
Not Ellen's spell had lulled to rest 
The fever of his troubled breast. 
In broken dreams the imasre rose 

o 

Of varied perils, pains, and woes : 075 

His steed now flounders in the brake, 

Now sinks his barge upon the lake ; 

Now leader of a broken host, 

His standard falls, his honor's lost ! 

Then, — from my couch may heavenlj'' might G80 

Chase that Avorst phantom of the night I — 

Again returned the scenes of youth, 

Of confidant, undoubting truth ; 

Again his soul he interchanged 

With friends whose hearts were long estranged : G8o 

They come, in dim procession led. 

The cold, the faithless, and the dead ; 

As warm each hand, each brow as ga}'. 

As if they parted yesterday ; 

And doubt distracts him at the view, — 690 

O were his senses false or true ? 

Dreamed he of death or broken vow, 

Or is it all a vision now ? 



XXXIV. 

At length, with Ellen in a grove 

He seemed to walk and speak of love ; G95 

She listened with a blush and sigh. 

His suit was warm, his hopes were high : 

He sought her yielded hand to clasp, 

And a cold gauntlet met his grasp : 

The phantom's sex was changed and gone, 7no 

Upon its head a helmet shone ; 



Inferior? — G72. not Ellen's spell = not even Ellen's spell? — Scotfs 
Rokehy, I. ii, ;33-3i), is qnoted for its resemblance to this passage. So the 
waking dream of Byron's Giaour. — G9;3, etc. Lockhart quotes stanzas 
xlvii, xlviii of Thomson's Cafitle of Indolence as a kindred passage. The 
Critical Review pronounces the 34th stanza 'one of Mr. Scott's most suc- 
cessful efforts in descriptive poetry," and adds, " Some few lines of it are 



42 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO I. 

Slowly enlarged to giant size, 

Witli darkened clieek and threatening eyes, 

The grisly visage, stern and hoar, 

To Ellen still a likeness bore. — 705 

He woke, and, panting with affright, 

Recalled the vision of the night. 

The hearth's decaying brands were red, 

And deep and dusky lustre shed, 

Half showing, half concealing, all 7io 

The uncouth trophies of the hall. 

Mid those the stranger fixed his eye 

Where that huge falchion hung on high, 

And thoughts on thoughts, a countless throng, 

Rushed, chasing countless thoughts along, 715 

Until, the giddy whirl to cure, 

He rose and sought the moonshine pure. 

XXXV. 

The wild rose, eglantine, and broom 

Wasted around their rich perfume ; 

The birch-trees Avept in fragrant balm ; 720 

The aspens slept beneath the calm ; 

The silver light, with quivering glance. 

Played on the water's still expanse, — 

Wild were the heart whose passion's sway 

Could rage beneath the sober ray! 725 

He felt its calm, that warrior guest. 

While thus he communed with his breast: — 



indeed unrivalled for delicacy and melancholy tenderness." — 70i. grisly 
= hideous? horrible? A.'^.^ gryslic, frightful; grysan, to shudder. Do 
the combined sounds of Jiard g, rough r, and subvocal .s, appropriately 
express shuddering terror? — Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton 
use the word. Is it obsolete? — See iv, 322. — 724. passion's or pas- 
sions' f The editions vary. — 

TZd. Mb. i-iaj ea on ^ ^^^^^ Katrine's still expanse ; 
The birch, the wild rose, and the broom 
Wasted aronnd their rich ])erfnuie . . . 
The birch-trees wept in balmy deio ; 
, The aspen slept on Be^weiiue; 

Wild were the heart whose passions' poiver 
Defies the influence of the hour. 

Why the changes ? — 727. communed. Accent ? — 



CANTO I.] THE CHASE. 43 

" Why is it, at each turn T trace 

Some inemor}^ of that exiled race? 

Can I not mountain maiden sp}^ 730 

But she must bear the Douglas eye '? 

Can I not view a Highland brand. 

But it must match the Douglas hand ? 

Can I not frame a fevered dream. 

But still the Douglas is the theme ? 73^/ 

I'll dream no more, — by manly mind 

Not even in sleep is will resigned. 

My midnight orisons said o'er, 

I'll turn to rest, and dream no more." 

His midnight orisons he told, 740 

A prayer with every bead of gold, 

Consigned to heaven his cares and woes, 

And sunk in undisturbed repose. 

Until the heath-cock shrilly crew, 

And morning dawned on Benvenue. 745 



73S, 740. orison or orisons? Here a.srain the editions differ. Rolfe re- 
marks that "the word is almost invariably phiral — always in Shake- 
speare and Milton." — French oralson, Lat. oratio, a prayer ; orare, to pray. 



ca:nto second. 

THE ISLAND. 



At morn the black-cock trims his jetty wing, 

'Tis morning prompts the linnet's blithest lay, 
All Nature's children feel the matin spring 

()f life reviving with reviving da}^; 
And while yon little bark glides down the bay, t 

Wafting the stranger on his way again, 
Morn's genial influence roused a minstrel gray, 

And sweetly o'er the lake was heard th}^ strain, 
Mixed with the sounding harp, white-haired Allan-bane! 



II. 

SONG. 

"Not faster yonder rowers' might 10 

Flings from their oars the spray, 
Not faster yonder rippling bright. 
That tracks the shallop's course in light, 

Melts in the lake away. 
Than men from memory erase 15 

The benefits of former days; 
Then, stranger, go ! good speed the while, 
Nor think again of the lonely isle. 



Canto II. 1. black-cock. The male of the black or heath grouse. 
— 9. Allan-bane. lu this connection Scott gives proof that " the High- 
land chieftains, to a late period, retained in their service the bard as a 
family officer." — 15. men from memory, etc. Does the old minstrel 
suspect the stranger to be King James? See line 311. Has any intimation 
been given the islanders to excite such a suspicion? — 11, 14. flings, 

44 



CAXTO II.] THE ISLAND. 45 

" High place to thee in royal court, 

High place in battled line, 20 

Good hawk and hound for sylvan sport! 
Where beauty sees the brave resort, 

The honored meed be thine ! 
True be thy SAvord, thy friend sincere, 
Thy lady constant, kind, and dear, 25 

And lost in love's and friendship's smile 
Be memory of the lonely isle ! 



III. 

SOXG CONTINUED. 

" But if beneath yon southern sky 

A plaided stranger roam, 
Whose drooping crest and stifled sigh 30 

And sunken cheek and heavy eye 

Pine for his Highland home ; 
Then, warrior, then be thine to show 
The care that soothes a wanderer's woe; 
Remember then thy hap erewhile, 35 

A stranger in the lonely isle. 

" Or if on life's uncertain main 

Mishap shall mar thy sail; 
If faithful, wise, and brave in vain, 
Woe, want, and exile thou sustain 40 

Beneath the fickle gale ; 
Waste not a sigh on fortune changed, 
On thankless courts, or friends estranged. 
But come where kindred worth shall smile 
To greet thee in the lonely isle." 45 



melts. Rapidity implied in the changed accent of the verse? — 20. bat- 
tled. Most editions have 'battle.' Equally good? — 22. MS. has ''At 
tourneys where the brave resort." Improved? — As to the presence of 
ladies at tournaments, see lines 87, 88, etc. ; also Scott's Ivanhoe, Milton's 
L' Allegro, etc. — 23. meed. A.S. ined, Ger. mielhe, hire. — 26. loves. 
Most editions have ' love ' here. AVhich is the better? Whij ? 

29. plaided. The jilaid, though worn sometimes in the Lowlands, 



46 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 



IV. 

As died the sounds upon the tide, 

The shallop reached the mainland side, 

And ere his onward way he took, 

The stranger cast a lingering look, 

Where easily his eye might reach 50 

The Harper on the islet beach, 

Reclined against a blighted tree. 

As wasted, gray, and worn as he. 

To minstrel meditation given. 

His reverend brow was raised to heaven, 55 

As from the rising sun to claim 

A sparkle of inspiring flame. 

His hand, reclined upon the wire. 

Seemed watching the awakening fire ; 

So still he sat as those who wait GO 

Till judgment speak the doom of fate; 

So still, as if no breeze might dare 

To lift one lock of hoary hair ; 

So still, as life itself were fled 

In the last sound his harp had sped. 65 



V. 

Upon a rock with lichens wild. 

Beside him Ellen sat and smiled. 

Smiled she to see the stately drake 

Lead forth his fleet upon the lake, 

While her vexed spaniel from the beach 70 

Bayed at the prize beyond his reach? 

Yet tell me, then, the maid who knows, 

Why deepened on her cheek the rose? — 

Eorgive, forgive. Fidelity! 

was the distinctive dress of the Highlanders. See i, 363. — 51. The 
Harper, etc. A fine piece of word-paintino^, a picture 'touched,' says 
Jeffrey, 'with the hand of tlie true poet.' — 56. The word if, after as, is 
often omitted by the poets, especially those of tlie Elizabethan age. See 
iv, 446 ; vi, 429. — 65. As to metre, see i, 73. — 

(S{\. lichens [from Il'-kenfi or lich-eyis]. Patches of scale-like, ex- 
panded, frond-like forms, grayish, sreoiiish. or yellowish; ofteu called 
rock-moss.— m. What is the drake's yice^? — 80. Ellipsis? i, 528. 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 47 

Perchance the maiden smiled to see 75 

Yon parting lingerer wave adieu, 

And stop and turn to wave anew; 

And, lovely ladies, ere your ire 

Condemn the heroine of my lyre. 

Show me the fair would scorn to spy 80 

And prize such conquest of her eye ! 



VI. 

While yet he loitered on the spot, 

It seemed as Ellen marked him not; 

But when he turned him to the glade, 

One courteous parting sign she made; 85 

And after, oft the knight would say, 

That not when prize of festal day 

Was dealt him by the brightest fair 

Who e'er wore jewel in her hair. 

So highly did his bosom swell 90 

As at that simple mute farewell. 

Now with a trusty mountain-guide. 

And his dark stag-hounds by his side, 

He parts — the maid, unconscious still. 

Watched him wind sloAvly round the hill ; 95 

But when his stately form was hid. 

The guardian in her bosom chid — 

" Thy Malcolm ! vain and selfish maid ! " 

'Twas thus upbraiding conscience said. — 

"Not so had Malcolm idly hung lOO 

On the smooth phrase of Southern tongue ; 

Not so had Malcolm strained his eye 

Another step than thine to spy." — 

"Wake, Allan-bane," aloud she cried 

To the old minstrel by her side, — 105 

" Arouse thee from thy moody dream ! 

I'll give thy harp heroic theme, 

84. turned him. Reflexive? i,142; ii. 106, etc. — 80. after. Often 
in the poets after is used for ' afterwards.' The 1st edition has that Inight. 
Well changed? — 94. parts = departs ? It is hardly needful to say that 
such use of part is frequent in jxietry, as in Gray's " The curfew tolls the 
knell of parting day." — Line 7(i:5; iv, "13. — 103. The MS. reads, " Tke 
loveliest Lowland fair to spy.'' The Jst edition has " The step of parting 



48 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 

And warm thee with a noble name; 

Pour forth the glory of the Graeme ! " 

Scarce from her lip the word had rushed, lH) 

AVhen deep the conscious maiden blushed; 

For of his clan, in hall and bower, 

Young Malcolm Grgeme was held the flower. 



VII. 

The minstrel waked his harp, — three times 

Arose the well-known martial chimes, lis 

And thrice their high heroic pride 

In melancholy murmurs died. 

^'Vainly thou bidst, noble maid," 

Clasping his withered hands, he said, 

" Vainly thou bidst me wake the strain, 120 

Though all unwont to bid in vain. 

Alas ! than mine a mightier hand 

Has tuned my harp, my strings has spanned! 

I touch the chords of joy, but low 

And mournful answer notes of woe; 125 

And the proud march which victors tread 

Sinks in the wailing for the dead. 

Oh, well for me, if mine alone 

That dirge's deep prophetic tone ! 

If, as my tuneful fathers said, 130 

This harp, which erst Saint Modan swayed, 

Can thus its master's fate foretell. 

Then welcome be the minstrel's knell! 

fair to spy." Compare the merits of these three lines. — 109. Graeme. 
" The ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, for metrical reasons, 
is here spelled after the Scottish pronunciation) held extensive possessions 
in the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. Few families can boast of 
more historical renown, having claims to three of the most remarkable 
characters in the Scottish annals — Sir John the Graeme," defeated with 
Wallace by Edward I at Falkirk in 1298; "the celebrated Marquis of 
Montrose, in whom De Retz saw realized his abstract idea of the heroes 
of antiquity," "and . . . third, John Graeme of Claverhouse, Viscount of 
Dundee." — * The Graeme ' is the chief of the Grahams, as ' The Douglas ' 
is head of the Douglases. — 112. bower = chamber, ladies' apartments in 
a house [Rolfe] ? — in hall and bower = among men and women [Rolfe]. 
See i, 217; iv, 413; Conius, line 45; Spenser's Asti^ophel, 28. — 

121. unw^ont. iro^^ = accustomed? customary? usual? — 126. As to 
the meti'e, see i, 73. — 131. Saint Modan was a Scotch abbot of the 7th 
century, of whom Scott says, " I am not prepared to show that Saint 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 49 



VIII. 

" But ah ! dear lady, thus it sighed, 

The eve thy sainted mother died; 135 

And such the sounds which, while I strove 

To wake a lay of war or love, 

Came marring all the festal mirth, 

Appalling me who gave them birth, 

And, disobedient to my call, 140 

Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered hall, 

Ere Douglases, to ruin driven, 

Were exiled from their native heaven. — 

Oh ! if yet worse mishap and woe 

My master's house must undergo, 145 

Or aught but weal to Ellen fair 

Brood in these accents of despair, 



Modan was a performer on the harp. It was, however, no unsaintly 
accomplishment; for Saint Dunstan certainly did j^lay npon that instru- 
ment ; which, retaining, as was natural, a portion of the sanctity attached 
to its master's character, announced future events by its spontaneous 
sound." — Scott quotes the following: — 

" [Danstan*s harp sounds on the loall.] 

Forrest. Hark, hark, my lord, the holy abbot's harj* 

Sounds by itself so hanging on the wall ! 

Dunstan. Unhallow'd man, that soorn'st the sacred rede, 

Hark, how the testimony of my truth 

Sounds heaven!}- music with an angel's hand I " 

From Grim, the Collier of Croydon. 

141. Bothwell's bannered hall. A Norman castle on the Cl^'^de, 
nine miles above Glasgow. 

" Where Bothwell turrets brave the air, 
And Bothwell bank is blooming fair." 

The ruins are picturesque and massive, some of the walls fourteen feet 
thick and sixty feet high. — 142. Douglases, to ruin driven. Archibald 
Douglas, Earl of Angus, had married Margaret Tudor, the queen dowager, 
mother of James V, and, as guardian of the boy king, had held him in so 
close tutelage and subjection that he was virtually a prisoner. Young 
James felt this caj^tivity very keenly. Attempts were openly made to 
rescue him, but had failed. One night, in 152H, while residing at Falkland 
(where he died in 1542), about twenty miles N.N.W. of Edinburgh, the 
young king made his escape, and rode full speed to Stirling Castle, where 
the governor, who hated the Douglases, received him with great joy. The 
Douglases were all banislied. Among them was the brave old man, Archi- 
bald of Kilspindie, whom James greatly loved in his childhood, ami whom 
some have affirmed to be the original of the Douglas of The LarJy of the 



50 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 

No future bard, sad Harp! shall fling 

Triumph or rapture from thy string; 

One short, one final strain shall flow, 150 

Fraught with unutterable woe, 

Then shivered shall thy fragments lie, 

Thy master cast him down and die! " 



IX. 

Soothing she answered him: "Assuage, 

Mine honored friend, the fears of age ; 155 

All melodies to thee are known 

That harp has rung or pipe has blown 

In Lowland vale or Highland glen 

From Tweed to Spey — what marvel, then. 

At times unbidden notes should rise, IGO 

Confusedly bound in memory's ties. 

Entangling, as they rush along, 

The war-march with the funeral song? — 

Small ground is now for brooding fear; 

Obscure, but safe, we rest us here. 165 

My sire, in native virtue great, 

Resigning lordship, lands, and state, 

Not then to fortune more resigned 

Than yonder oak might give the wind: 

The graceful foliage storms may reave, 170 

The noble stem they cannot grieve. 

For me " — she stooped, and, looking round. 

Plucked a blue harebell from the ground — 

" For me, whose memory scarce conveys 

An image of more splendid days, 175 

This little flower that loves the lea 

May well my simple emblem be; 



Lake. Scott himself tells us, however, that the Douglas of the poem is an 
imaginary person, a supposed uncle of the Earl of Angus. — See note on 
V, 630, etc. — 151. fraught. Swedish, //-aA'^o, Old 'Enu;. frauc/ht, to load 
a ship. — 159. from Tweed to Spey. The river Tweed, 95 miles in 
length, partly separates Scotland from England ; the Spey, 110 miles 
long, is in northern Scotland. " From Tweed to Spey " therefore includes 
most of Scotland. — 170. reave. A.S. reafian, Ger. rauhen, to rob, carry 
off by violence; whence, bereave. — Shakes, and Spenser use reave. — 
176. iea. A.S. ^ea/i, field, meadow, or turf land. See v, 401. — 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 51 

It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as rose 

That in the King's own garden grows; 

And when I place it in my hair, 180 

Allan, a bard is bound to swear 

He ne'er saw coronet so fair." 

Then playfully the chaplet wild 

She wreathed in her dark locks, and smiled. 



X. 

Her smile, her speech, with winning sway, 185 

Wiled the old Harper's mood away. 

With such a look as hermits throw. 

When angels stoo]^ to soothe their woe, 

He gazed, till fond regret and pride 

Thrilled to a tear; then thus replied: 190 

"Loveliest and best! thou little know'st 

The rank, the honors, thou hast lost! 

Oh, might I live to see thee grace, 

In Scotland's court, thy birthright place! 

To see my favorite's step advance 195 

The lightest in the courtty dance. 

The cause of every gallant's sigh, 

And leading star of every eye, 

And theme of every minstrel's art. 

The Lady of the Bleeding Heart ! " 200 



178. MS. No blither dew-drop cheers the rose. 

Bettered? — 182. coronet. Lnt. coro)ia, Old Fr. coro«e, erowu ; diminu- 
tive suffix, -et, little. — 

186. wiled. A.S. uul or ivile, a, trick. Wile is a doublet of guile; 
whence comes beguile. — 195, 196. These two lines are not in the MS. 
Was it worth while to insert them ? — 200. the Bleeding Heart. The 
family device or 'cognizance' of the Douglases was a J^ed heart croAvned. 
Robert Bruce, 1 on his death-bed, charged "the good Lord James Douglas to 
take his heart, and bear it in war against the Saracens, and to Palestine, 
in order that his vow to visit the Holy Land might be fulfilled ! In a sharp 
battle against the Moslems, Douglas tiung before him the casket containing 
the heart, shouting, "Onward! as thou wert wont, thou noble heart! 
Douglas will follow thee! " The heart was finally deposited in the church 
of Melrose Abbey. — 

1 Born 1274 ; crowned at Scone 1306 ; victorious at Bannockbiirn 1314 ; died 1329. 



52 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 



XI. 



"Fair dreams are these," the maiden cried: 

Light was her accent, yet she sighed, — 

" Yet is this mossy rock to me 

Worth splendid chair and canopy ; 

Nor would my footstep spring more gay 2C5 

In courtly dance than blithe strathspey, 

Nor half so pleased mine ear incline 

To royal minstrel's lay as thine. 

And then, for suitors proud and high. 

To bend before my conquering eye — 210 

Thou, flattering bard ! thyself wilt say. 

That grim Sir Roderick owns its sway. 

The Saxon scourge, Clan-Alpine's pride, 

The terror of Loch Lomond's side. 

Would, at my suit, thou know'st, delay 215 

A Lennox foray — for a day ! " — 



XII. 

The ancient bard her glee repressed : 

" 111 hast thou chosen theme for jest ! 

For who, through all this western wild. 

Named Black Sir Roderick e'er, and smiled? 220 

201. Fair. Welsh edition has Gay. Your preference ? — 

203. MS. This mossy rock, my friend, to me 
Is worth gay chair and canopy. 

205. footstep. So the early editions : the later have footsteps. Why is 
the singular better? — 206. strathspey. A lively Scottish dance, resem- 
bling the 'reel,' but slower. Strath = a. broad valley through vs^hich a 
river runs. The dance is named from the valley, iii, 87. — 212. Roderick 
is said to mean ' rich in fame.' — 213. The race of Alpine, descended from 
the ancient king, Kenneth McAlpine, included the clans of MacGregors, 
Grants, Mackies, Mackinnans, MacNabs, MacQuarries, and Macaulays. — 
214. Loch Lomond. This is the largest and one of the most beautiful 
of the Scottish lakes, 16 miles N.W. of Glasgow ; 21 miles long, north to 
south, 7 to 8 in greatest breadth, narrowing to one mile at the north end ; 
studded with islands, and surrounded by mountains and valleys. See i, 
263; iii, 191. — 216. foray. Fr. /e?/r>'e, straw, fodder ; /ot^-ra^/e, to for- 
age ; Eng. fo?'age, to wander in search of forage ; to plunder. The Lennox 
family lands bordered on the southern end of Loch Lomond. The Earls of 
Lennox had one of their castles, now in ruins, on the island of Inch-Murrin, 
in the S.W. part of the lake ; another on the shore near Balloch, where 
the modern castle stands. 

220. Black. Dhu is 'black' in the Gaelic — 221. Holy- Rood. This 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 53 

In Holy-Roocl a knight lie slew ; 

I saw, when back the dirk he drew, 

Courtiers give place before the stride 

Of the undaunted homicide; 

And since, though outlawed, hath his hand 225 

Full sternly kept his mountain land. 

Who else dared give — ah ! woe the day, 

That I such hated truth should say ! — 

The Douglas, like a stricken deer. 

Disowned by every noble peer, 230 

Even the rude refuge we have here? 

Alas ! this wild marauding Chief 

Alone might hazard our relief, 

And now thy maiden charms expand, 

Looks for his guerdon in thy hand ; 235 

Full soon may dispensation sought. 

To back his suit, from Rome be brought! 

Then, though an exile on the hill. 

Thy father, as the Douglas, still 

Be held in reverence and fear; 240 

And though to Roderick thou^rt so dear 

That thou mightst guide with silken thread, 

Slave of thy will, this chieftain dread, 

Yet, loved maid, thy mirth refrain! 

Thy hand is on a lion's mane! " — 245 

is the famous historic Holyrood Palace, long the royal residence in Edin- 
burgh. — slew. Says Scott, " This was a by no means uncommon occur- 
rence in the Court of Scotland." See v, 107-127. — 

223. MS. Courtiers erive i)laoc with heartless stride 
Of the retiring homicide. 

Description improved? — 225. outlawed. A.S. litlaga, one not under 
the protection of law. — 226. The MS. has after this line the following 
couplet : — 

Who else dared own the kindred claim 

That bound him to thy mother's name ? 

Probable reason for its omission? — 230. disowned, etc. — Says Scott, 
" The hatred of James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate that, 
numerous as their allies were, and disregarded as the royal authority had 
usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the most 
remote parts of Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the 
strictest and closest disguise." See line 142 of this Canto. — 232. ma- 
rauding. Fr. maraud, a rascal. — The original sense of this word seems 
to be ' wandering,' ' vagabondizing.' Akin to Spanish nuwrar, to deviate. 
— 2-35. guerdon. Ger. ivieder, back again; Lat. donum, a gift; Fr. 
guei'don. Rare, except in poetry. — 23(>. dispensation. Cousins, in the 
Roman Catholic Church, could not marry Avithout license from the Pope? 



54 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO II. 



XIII. 



"Minstrel," the maid replied, and high 

Her father's soul glanced from her eye, 

"My debts to Roderick's house I know: 

All that a mother could bestow 

To Lady Margaret's care I owe, 250 

Since first an orphan in the wild 

She sorrowed o'er her sister's child; 

To her brave chieftain son, from ire 

Of Scotland's king who shrouds my sire, 

A deeper, holier debt is owed; 255 

And, could I pay it with my blood, 

Allan! Sir Roderick should command 

My blood, my life, — but not my hand. 

Rather will Ellen Douglas dwell 

A votaress in Maronnan's cell; 260 

Rather through realms beyond the sea, 

Seeking the world's cold charity. 

Where ne'er was spoke a Scottish word. 

And ne'er the name of Douglas heard. 

An outcast pilgrim will she rove, 265 

Than wed the man she cannot love. 



XIV. 

"Thou shak'st, good friend, thy tresses gray, — 

That pleading look, what can it say 

But what I own? — I grant him brave. 

But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave; 270 

And generous, — save vindictive mood 

Or jealous transport chafe his blood : 

251. orphan. Which? — Has Scott carried the inversion too far? — 
254. shrouds. In Spenser, to s7irou(? = to protect ; in Shakes, shroud = 
protection; in Milton's Comus, shrouds = shelters. A.S. scriid = ga,r- 
ment, dress. — 2(50. Maronnan's cell. St. Maronnan's cell or chapel or 
church, Kilmaronock, was at the eastern extremity of Loch Lomond. 
Little is known of the saint. Kil, as a prefix or suffix, meant cell or 
chapel ; as in JK'i/patrick, Icolmkill, etc. 

270. Bracklinn's. The word is said to mean 'white foaming pool.' 
A beautiful cascade, some 50 ft. high, a mile N.E. of Callander, made by 
the mountain stream Keltic, at the bridge of Bracklinn. See vi, 487. — 
271. save = unless [Rolfe] ? except when ? — 274, claymore. Two- 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. ^^ 

I grant him true to friendly band, 

As his claymore is to his hand; 

But ! that very blade of steel 275 

More mercy for a foe would feel : 

I grant him liberal, to fling 

Among his clan the wealth they bring. 

When back by lake and glen they wind, 

And in the Lowland leave behind, 28l 

Where once some pleasant hamlet stood, 

A mass of ashes slaked with blood. 

The hand that for my father fought 

I honor, as his daughter ought; 

But can I clasp it reeking red 285 

From peasants slaughtered in their shed? 

No! wildly while his virtues gleam, 

They make his passions darker seem, 

And flash along his spirit high 

Like lightning o'er the midnight sky. 290 

AVhile yet a child — and children know. 

Instinctive taught, the friend and foe — 

I shuddered at his brow of gloom. 

His shadowy plaid and sable plume; 

A maiden grown, I ill could bear 295 

His haughty mien and lordly air : 

But, if thou join'st a suitor's claim, 

In serious mood, to Koderick's name, 

I thrill with anguish! or, if e'er 

A Douglas knew the word, with fear.. 300 

To change such odious theme were best, — 

What think'st thou of our stranger guest?" — 



XV. 

"What think I of him? — woe the while 
That brought such wanderer to our isle! 



handed? — Lat. gladius ? — Gael, claidheamh (pronounced kli-ev) ; Welsh 
cleddyf, a, sword; Gael, mor, Welsh ma wr, great. — 294. shadowy . . . 
sable. Appropriate ? — Line 220. — 

303. woe the while. While (A.S. Jiwil) of course is a noun. After 
a preposition understood? See i, 166. — 305. yore. A.S. gear, year; 



56 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 

Thy father's battle -brand, of yore 305 

For Tine-man forged by fairy lore, 

What time he leagued, no longer foes, 

His Border spears with Hotspur's bows, 

Did, self-unscabbarded, foreshow 

The footstep of a secret foe. 3io 

If courtly spy hath harbored here. 

What may we for the Douglas fear? 

What for this island, deemed of old 

Clan-Alpine's last and surest hold? 

If neither spy nor foe, I pray 315 

What yet may jealous Roderick say? — 

Nay, wave not thy disdainful head! 

Bethink thee of the discord dread 

That kindled when at Beltane game 

Thou ledst the dance with Malcolm Graeme ; 320 

Still, though thy sire the peace renewed, 

Smoulders in Roderick's breast the feud: 

Beware! — But hark! what sounds are these? 

My dull ears catch no faltering breeze, 

No weeping birch nor aspens wake, 325 

Nor breath is dimpling in the lake; 



(jeara, of years; formerly. — 3015. Tine-man. "Archibald, the third 
Earl of Douglas, was so vinfortuuate in all his enterprises that he acquired 
the epithet of tine-man, because be fined, or lost, his followers in every 
battle which he fought." Scott. Slain in battle in 1424. — 307. what 
time. \^2it. quo tempore. Seeiii, 15; iv, 9. — no longer foes. He had' 
lost an eye in battle and been captured by Henry Percy of Northumber- 
land, Hotspur, in the battle of Hamildou Hill. Afterwards, leagued with 
Percy, he fought beside him at Shrewsbury in 1403, and was then wounded 
again and captured. — See Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV, and Holinshed's 
History of England. — 

"Thrice hatli tliis Hotspur. Mars in swathing- clothes, 
Discomfited great Douglas, ta'en him once, 
Enlarged hiin and made a friend of him.'' 

1 Henry IV, HI, ii, 112-115. — 30;). self-unscabbarded. Scott, in his 
notes, gives other instances of like ominous behavior on the part of ' this 
sentient and prescient weapon.' — 311. See line 15. — 319. Beltane=Beirs 
Fire, or Whitsunday? — Ga,e\. Beal = snu, or sun-god; tainn—&ve. On 
May 1 (Old Style), occurred a yearly festival in honor of the sun and of 
the returning spring. As a part of the ceremonies, fires were kindled on 
the hilltops at night. Dancing and merriment followed. — See 410 ; Unab. 
Bict. — '32o. hark! — Of the description following, Jeffrey says, "The 
moving picture — the effect of the sounds — and the wild character and 



CANTO 11.] THE ISLAND. 57 

Still is the canna's hoary beard; 

Yet, by my minstrel faith, I heard — 

And hark again ! some pipe of war 

Sends the bold pibroch from afar." 330 



XVI. 

Far up the lengthened lake were spied 

Four darkening specks upon the tide, 

That, slow enlarging on the view. 

Four manned and masted barges grew, 

And, bearing downwards from Glengyle, ;>35 

Steered full upon the lonely isle; 

The point of Brianchoil they passed, 

And, to the windward as they cast, 

Against the sun they gave to shine 

The bold Sir Roderick's bannered Pine. 340 

Nearer and nearer as they bear. 

Spears, pikes, and axes flash in air. 

Now might you see the tartans brave, 

And plaids and plumage dance and wave ; 

Now see the bonnets sink and rise, 345 

As his tough oar the rower plies; 

See, flashing at each sturdy stroke. 

The wave ascending into smoke; 



strong peculiar nationality of the whole procession, are given with inimi- 
table'spirit and power." — 327. canna's hoary beard. Gael, cannach, 
' the canna-down.' Cotton-grass, here called canna, is of the sedge family. 
(See i, 043.) Around the seed or fruit at maturity are delicate hair-like 
bristles which resemble tufts of cotton. 

335. Glengyle. " A valley at the northern end of Loch Katrine." See 
map. — 337. Brianchoil. A j)romontory on the north shore of the lake, 
and due north of Benvenue. — 340. Pine. Reminding us of " the stately 
emblem on the Bay-state's rusted shield " in colonial days ! — 343. tartans. 
Woolen cloths, niai'ked into small squares by being chequered or cross- 
barred with narrow bands of various colors ; much worn in the Highlands 
of Scotland. — " MacCullummore's heart will be as cold as death can make 
it, when it does not warm to the tartan." Scott. — French, tartan; tire- 
taine, linsey-woolsey. See vi, 152. — brave. Fr. brave, gay, fine, hraciuer, 
to display;" Armoric hrav, fine; Scot, braw, handsome, well-dressed; 
AVelsh brae, boastful. Akin to brag. — Shakes, repeatedly uses it in the 
sense of ' showy ' ; as in Hamlet, II, ii, ' this brave o'erhanging firmament.' 
— 345. bonnets. French bonnet, the name of a stuff or material, very 
durable, made of thick seamless woolen. Scotch caps, soft, elastic. — 



58 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 

See the proud pipers on the bow, 

And mark the gaudy streamers flow 350 

From their loud chanters down, and sweep 

The furrowed bosom of the deep. 

As, rushing through the lake amain, 

They plied the ancient Highland strain. 



XVII. 

Ever, as on they bore, more loud 355 

And louder rung the pibroch proud. 

At first the sounds, by distance tame, 

Mellowed along the waters came, 

And, lingering long by cape and bay, 

Wailed every harsher note away; 360 

Then, bursting bolder on the ear, 

The clan's shrill Gathering they could hear, 

Those thrilling sounds that call the might 

Of old Clan- Alpine to the fight. 

Thick beat the rapid notes, as when 365 

The mustering hundreds shake the glen, 

And hurrying at the signal dread. 

The battered earth returns their tread. 

Then prelude light, of livelier tone, 

Expressed their merry marching on, 370 

Ere peal of closing battle rose, 

With mingled outcry, shrieks, and blows ; 



350. streamers. Why called streamers? — 251. chanters = ia bagpipes 
the tubes, tlutes, or finger pipes? — 

357. sounds. Most editions have sound. Preferable? Line 363. — 
363. thrilling, etc. Scott says, "the connoisseurs in pipe music aifect 
to discover, in a well-composed pibroch, the imitative sounds of march, 
contlict, fight, pursuit, and all ' the current of a heady fight.' " He quotes 
from Dr. IJeattie the following: " Some of the pibrochs, being intended to 
represent a battle, begin with a grave motion representing a march ; then 
gradually quicken into the onset ; run off with a noisy confusion, and 
turbulent rapidity, to imitate the conflict and pursuit ; then swell into a 
few flourishes of triumphant joy, and perhaps close with the wild and 
slow wailings of a funeral procession." — Trace these successive steps in 
the description, 365-384. — See line 638, Canto i. — 367. hurrying. _' An- 
other instance of clumsy inversion,' says Taylor. See on line 251. — 
" Referring to their, or rather to the the))i implied in that word " [Rolfe] ? 
referring to hundreds, or they implied in hundreds? — 369. prelude. 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 59 

And mimic din of stroke and ward, 

As broadsword upon target jarred; 

And groaning pause, ere yet again, 375 

Condensed, the battle yelled amain; 

The rapid charge, the rallying shout, 

Ketreat borne headlong into rout. 

And bursts of triumph, to declare 

Clan-Alpine's conquest — all were there. 380 

Nor ended thus the strain, but slow 

Sunk in a moan prolonged and low. 

And changed the conquering clarion swell 

For wild lament o'er those that fell. 



XVIII. - 

The war-pipes ceased, but lake and hill 385 

Were busy with their echoes still ; 

And, when they slept, a vocal strain 

Bade their hoarse chorus wake again. 

While loud a hundred clansmen raise 

Their voices in their Chieftain's praise. 390 

Each boatman, bending to his oar. 

With measured sweep the burden bore, 

In such wild cadence aa the breeze 

Makes through December's leafless trees. 

The chorus first could Allan know, 395 

" Koderick Vich Alpine, ho ! iro ! " 

And near, and nearer as they rowed. 

Distinct the martial ditty flowed. 



Lat. 25^cte, before ; ludere, to play. — 373. ward = sjuard against blow, 
parrying or averting ? See i, 38. — 370. amain. See i, 150. — o8.'5. swell. 
Subject, or object, of changed? — clarion. Lat. clarus originally meant 
clear-toned f 

392. the burden bore = sustained the burden [Rolfe] ? What is the 
burden here? — See Canto i, 17; vi, 75. — "The melancholy burden bore, 
of 'Never — nevermore'!" Foe's liacen. — 391). Vicli = descendant ? — 



60 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 



XIX. 
BOAT SOXG. 

"Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances! 

Honored and blessed be the ever-green Pine ! 400 

Long may the tree, in his banner that glances, 
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line ! 
Heaven send it happy dew, 
Earth lend it sap anew, 
Gayly to bourgeon and broadly to grow, 405 

While every Highland glen 
Sends our shout back again, 
' Roderigh Vich Alpine dlui, ho! ieroe! ' 

" Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain. 

Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade; 410 

When the whirlwind has stripped every leaf on the. mountain. 
The more shall Clan-Alpine exult in her shade. 
Moored in the rifted rock. 
Proof to the tempest's shock, 
Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow; 415 

Menteith and Breadalbane, then. 
Echo his praise again, 
' Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! ' 



399. Hail to the Chief. Note how spirited the dactylic metre, one 
long followed by two short, as in Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade, 
" Half a league, half a league, half a league, onward! " and many lines in 
Longfellow's Skeleton in Armor. — [Dactylic = finger-like, one long bone 
and two short!] from Gr. B6.Krv\o<;, daktillos, finger. — 405. bourgeon. 
Gaelic 6o?t, to swell; liorra, a knob; Fr. bourgeon, a young bud. Ten- 
nyson, in 1)1 Memoriam, uses the word in the sense of bud or sprout. — 
408. The line means nearly, ' Hurrah for black Roderick, descendant of 
Alpine.' — " Besides his ordinary name and surname, every Highland chief 
had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity as head of the clan. 
. . . The chieftain had usually another . . . which distinguished him from 
the chieftains of the same race. This was sometimes derived from com- 
plexion, as dhu [black] or roy [red] ; sometimes from size, as beg or more 
[great]. . . . The song itself is intended as an imitation of the . . . boat 
songs of the Highlanders. . . . They are so adapted as to keep time with 
the sweep of the oars." Scott. 

410. Beltane. Lineoli).— 41.3. Image here? — 415. roots him. i, 142; 
ii, 84. — 41(). 3Ienteith, i, 89. — Breadalbane. The western part of 
Perthshire, " the district north of Loch Lomond and around Loch Tay. 
The Earl of Breadalbane 's seat is Tay mouth Castle oh Loch Tay." 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 61 



XX. 



" Proudly our pibroch has thrilled in Glen Fruin, 

And Bannochar's groans to our slogan replied; 420 

Glen-Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin, 
And the best of Loch Lomond lie dead on lier side. 
Widow and Saxon maid 
Long shall lament our raid, 
Think of Clan-Alpine with fear and with woe; 425 

Lennox and Leven-glen 
Shake when they hear again, 
' Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! ' 

" Row, vassals, row, for the pride of the Highlands ! 

Stretch to your oars for the ever-green Pine ! 430 

that the rosebud that graces 3^011 islands 

Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine ! 

that some seedling gem, 

Worthy such noble stem, 
Honored and blessed in their shadow might grow! 435 

Loud should Clan-Alpine then 

Ring from her deepmost glen, 
* Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! ' " 



419. Glen Fruin. A valley S.W. of Loch Lomond.— 420. Banno- 
char (Bennchara, or Benachra) Castle's ruins still overhang the entrance 
to Glen Fruin. — 420. slogan. Gael, slnagh, an army; gairm,^ call. — 

421. Glen Lviss is a valley draining into the lake near Glen Fruin. 
Ross-dhu is between Glen Luss and Glen Fruin. At Glen Luss is a 
ruined tower, the remnant of an ancient castle of the Luss family. — 

422. the best of Loch Lomond lie dead. "The Lennox, as tlic 
district is called, which encircles the lower extremity of Loch Lomond, 
was peculiarly exposed to the incursions of the mountaineers, who inhal)ite<l 
the inaccessible fastnesses at the upper end of the lake, and the neighboring 
district of Loch Katrine. These were often marked by circumstances of 
great ferocity." Scott. Scott gives a number of examples of the terrible 
savagery of these Highlanders in this romantic region. — 424. raid. A.S. 
ridan, to ride; rad, Icel. reid, a ride. — 42G. Leven-glen. Through this 
valley the waters of Loch Lomond flow into the Clj'de. — 

429. vassals. Kymric gwas, a youtli. a serA-ant; medifeval Latin, 
vassaUs ; Fr. vassal. Bracket. — 431. rosebud. Allan's forebodings? 
See line 235. — Is this suggestion judicious ? intrusive ? — 433. gem = bud ? 
jewel? — 'Ldit. gemma = ?{,hn(i. — 438. Of this scene and song tbc Cntiral 
Review says, " Tbe hero of a poem has seldom, if ever, been introduced 
with finer effect." — 



62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 



XXI. 

With all her joyful female band 

Had Lady Margaret sought the strand. 440 

Loose on the breeze their tresses flew, 

And high their snowy arms they threw, 

As echoing back with shrill acclaim. 

And chorus wild, the Chieftain's name; 

While, prompt to please, with mother's art, 445 

The darling passion of his heart, 

The Dame called Ellen to the strand, 

To greet her kinsman ere he land : 

" Come, loiterer, come ! a Douglas thou. 

And shun to wreathe a victor's brow?" 450 

Reluctantly and slow, the maid 

The unwelcome summoning obeyed, 

And when a distant bugle rung, 

In the mid-path aside she sprung: — 

" List, Allan-bane ! From mainland cast 455 

I hear my father's signal blast. 

Be ours," she cried, "the skiff to guide, 

And waft him from the mountain-side." 

Then, like a sunbeam, swift and bright. 

She darted to her shallop light, 460 

And, eagerly while Roderick scanned 

For her dear form his mother's band. 

The islet far behind her lay, 

And she had landed in the bay. 



XXII. 

Some feelings are to mortals given 465 

With less of earth in them than heaven; 

And if there be a human tear 

From passion's dross refined and clear, 

A tear so limpid and so meek 

It would not stain an angel's cheek, 470 



444. MS. The chorus to the chieftain's /awe. 
Inferior ? \ 

469. limpid. Lat. limpidus, akin to Gr. KdixneLv, lampein, to shine. 



CANTO II.] TH?: ISLAND. 63 

'Tis that which pious fathers shed 

Upon a duteous daughter's head! 

And, as the Douglas to his breast 

His darling Ellen closely pressed, 

Such holy drops her tresses steeped, 475 

Though 'twas an hero's eye that weeped. 

Nor, while on Ellen's faltering tongue 

Her filial welcomes crowded hung, 

Marked she that fear — affection's proof — 

Still held a graceful youth aloof; 480 

No ! not till Douglas named his name. 

Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme. 

XXIII. 

Allan, with wistful look the while. 
Marked Roderick landing on the isle; 
His master piteously he eyed, 485 

Then gazed upon the Chieftain's pride, 
Then dashed with hasty hand away 
From his dimmed eye the gathering spray; 
And Douglas, as his hand he laid 
On Malcolm's shoulder, kindly said: 490 

- ^' Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy 
In my poor follower's glistening eye? 
I'll tell thee : — he recalls the day 
When in my praise he led the lay 
O'er the arched gate of Bothwell proud, 495 

While many a minstrel answered loud. 
When Percy's Norman pennon, won 
In bloody field, before me shone, 

These lines are often quoted. — 471. pious. Usual meaning of this word ? 
i^ro;H a parent or toioard one? — 476. weeped. Allowable? See i, 500. 
— an hero ? When is ' an ' allowable before h ? 

477. MS. Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue 

Her filial greetings eager hwwff, 

Mark'd not that aioe (affection's proof) 

Still held yon gentle youth alonf. 

No! not till Douplas named his name, 

Althontrh the youth was Malcolm Orrpme. 

Then with flushed cheek and doioncast eye, 

Their greeting was confused and shy. 
Improved on revision ? 

495. Bothwell. See on line 141.— 497. Percy's Norman pennon. 
Captured by the Douglas in the raid which led to the battle of Otterburn, 



64 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [('ANTO I J. 

And twice ten knights, the least a name 

As mighty as yon Chief may claim, 500 

Gracing my pomp, behind me came. 

Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud 

Was I of all that marshalled crowd, 

Though the waned crescent owned my might, 

And in my train trooped lord and knight, 505 

Though Blantyre hymned her holiest lays. 

And Bothwell's bards flung back my praise. 

As when this old man's silent tear. 

And this poor maid's affection dear, 

A welcome give more kind and true 510 

Than aught my better fortunes knew. 

Forgive, my friend, a father's boast, — 

0, it out-beggars all T lost ! " 



XXIV. 

Delightful praise ! — like summer rose, 

That brighter in the dew-drop glows, 515 

The bashful maiden's cheek appeared, 

For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard. 

The flush of shame-faced joy to hide, 

The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide; 

The loved caresses of the maid 520 

The dogs with crouch and whimper paid; 

And, at her whistle, on her hand 

The falcon took his favorite stand. 

Closed his dark wing, relaxed his eye, 

Nor, though unhooded, sought to fly. 525 

Aug. 15, 1388, celebrated iu the old ballad of Chevy Chase— 501. pomp = 
parade [Ginii]? triumphal procession [Rolfe] ? pageant? — Gr. ttomttj;, 
pompe, a ' send-off '; from nifXTnLv, pempein, to send! — 504. the Avaned 
crescent = the conquered Saracens [Rolfe] ? The crescent moon on the 
shield of Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, who had been defeated in an 
endeavor to set the king free from the Douglases, and whose failure is 
hence called here the 'waning of the crescent' [Yonge] ? — 506. Blan- 
tyre. A priory or abbey on a height, opposite Bothwell Castle on the 
Clyde. Its ruins are still shown. — 513. out-beggars. Inelegant? 

521. M8. The dogs with whimpering notes repaid. 

Improved? — 525. unhooded. AVhen hunting with trained falcons, the 
bird was carried on the wrist with its head covered with a sort of hood 
until the prey was seen. Then the hood was removed, and the falcon flew 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 65 

And, trust, while in such guise she stood, 

Like fabled Goddess of the wood, 

That if a father's partial thought 

O'erweighed her worth and beauty aught, 

AVell might the lover's judgment fail 5^0 

To balance with a juster scale ; 

For with each secret glance he stole, 

The fond enthusiast sent his soul. 



XXV. 

Of stature fair, and slender frame, 

But firmly knit, was Malcolm Graeme. 535 

The belted plaid and tartan hose 

Did ne'er more graceful limbs disclose; 

His flaxen hair, of sunny hue. 

Curled closely round his bonnet blue. 

Trained to the chase, his eagle eye 540 

The ptarmigan in snow could spy ; 

Each pass, by mountain, lake, and heath. 

He knew, through Lennox and Menteith; 

Vain was the bound of dark-brown doe 

When Malcolm bent his sounding bow, 545 

And scarce that doe, though winged with fear. 

Outstripped in speed the mountaineer : 

Eight up Ben Lomond could he press, 

And not a sob his toil confess. 

His form accorded with a mind 550 

Lively and ardent, frank and kind; 

A blither heart, till Ellen came, 

Did never love nor sorrow tame ; 

It danced as lightsome in his breast 

As played the feather on his crest. 555 

at once to find or seize its prey. Force of the circumstance, that, though 
' unhooded,' it did not leave its ' stand ' on Ellen's wrist? — ' Stand ' and 
' unhooded ' are technical terms. — vi, 6(55. — 526. trust — believe me ? — 
guise = way? manner? dress? — 527. The MS. has "Like fabled hunt- 
ress of the wood." The Goddess, of course, is the huntress Diana. — 
529. aught. A. and A.S. loiht, whit, a person or thing. Wight and whit 
are the same word originally. — 

534. fair. Most editions have tall. Preferable? — 541. ptarmigan. 
Color here? See i, 440.-543. Menteith. See i, 89.-548. Ben 
Lomond. Loftiest (3192 feet) of the mountains around the lake. — 
549. sob — convulsive sigh? gasp? pant? quick hard breath? — A.S. 



66 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 

Yet friends, who nearest knew the youth, 

His scorn of wrong, his zeal for truth, 

And bards, who saw his features bohl 

When kindled by the tales of old, 

Said, were that youth to manhood grown, 560 

Not long should Eoderick Dhu's renown 

Be foremost voiced by mountain fame, 

But quail to that of Malcolm Graeme. 

XXVI. 

Now back they wend their watery way. 

And, " my sire ! " did Ellen say, 565 

"Why urge thy chase so far astray? 

And why so late returned? And why " — 

The rest was in her speaking eye. 

" My child, the chase I follow far, 

'Tis mimicry of noble war; 570 

And with that gallant pastime reft 

Were all of Douglas I have left. 

I met young Malcolm as I strayed 

Far eastward, in Glenfinlas' shade; 

Nor strayed I safe, for all around 575 

Hunters and horsemen scoured the ground : 

This youth, though still a royal ward, 

Risked life and land to be my guard. 

And through the passes of the wood 

Guided my steps, not unpursued; 580 

And Roderick shall his welcome make, 

Despite old spleen, for Douglas' sake. 

Then must he seek Strath-Endrick glen, 

Nor peril aught for me again." 

siofan, to sigh, sough (siif). — 563. quail. A.S. cioelau, to die; Dutch 
quelen, to pine; Ger. qual, distress. — 568. rest. What? 

574. Glenfinlas = * The grey white valley.' It is a wooded valleo 
between Ben-an and Benledi. Its entrance was midway between the twy 
lakes Achray and Vennachar. It is the scene of Scott's ballad Glenjinlas. 
— 577. still a royal "ward. Malcolm, being a minor and under the 
guardianship of the king, was, of course, in dangerous business when he 
undertook to pilot the hated outlaw Douglas, with the king's hunters and 
horsemen all around? — 582. See lines 3i8, 774.-583. Strath-Endrick. 
A low valley on the S.E. of Loch Lomond. Its waters flow by Endrick 
water into Loch Lomond. — Line 206.-584. peril aught = incur any 
danger [RolfeJ? imperil anything? — Line 529. 



CAXTO II.] THE ISLAND. 67 



XXVII. 

Sir Eoderick, who to meet them came, 585 

Keddened at sight of Malcolm Grseme, 

Yet, not in action, word, or eye. 

Failed aught in hospitality. 

In talk and sport they whiled away 

The morning of that summer day; 590 

But at high noon a courier light 

Held secret parley with the knight, 

Whose moody aspect soon declared 

That evil were the news he heard. 

Deep thought seemed toiling in his head; 595 

Yet was the evening banquet made 

Ere he assembled round the flame 

His mother, Douglas, and the Graeme, 

And Ellen too ; then cast around 

His eyes, then fixed them on the ground, 600 

As studying phrase that might avail 

Best to convey unpleasant tale. 

Long with his dagger's hilt he played. 

Then raised his haughty brow, and said: — 

XXVIII. 

" Short be my speech ; — nor time affords, 605 

Nor my plain temper, glozing words — 

Kinsman and father, — if such name . 

Douglas vouchsafe to Eoderick's claim; 

Mine honored mother; — Ellen, — why, 

My cousin, turn away thine eye? — 610 

And Grseme, in whom I hope to know 

Full soon a noble friend or foe. 

When age shall give thee thy command, 

And leading in thy native land, — 

587. not in action. The 1st ed. has wo?*. Equallygood? — 594. news. 
Now singular, or plural? Shakes, has it both ways. — 601. as = as if 
(studying) ? Line 798. 

(J0(>. glozing = that glosses over the truth, not plain and outspoken 
[Rolfe], fair, smooth, si^ecious, or flattering [Taylor, Ginn]? — Gr. yX^aaa, 
Lat. ffli>sr,a, a tongue ; a diflicult word needing explanation ; Fr. ffloser, to 
comniont, explain. — In Chaucer, Spenser, and Milton, glose = flatter, 
wheedle, deceive with smooth woods. In Shakespeare, it means misin- 



68 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 

List all! — The King's vindictive pride G15 

Boasts to have tamed the Border-side, 
Where chiefs, with honnd and hawk who came 
To share their monarch's sylvan game, 
Themselves in bloody toils were snared, 
And when the banquet they prepared, 620 

And wide their loyal portals flung. 
O'er their own gateway struggling hung. 
Loud cries their blood from Meggat's mead, 
. From Yarrow braes and banks of Tweed, 
Where the lone streams of Ettrick glide, 025 

And from the silver Teviot's side: 
The dales, where martial clans did ride, 
Are now one sheep-walk, waste and wide. 
This tyrant of the Scottish throne. 
So faithless and so ruthless known, 630 

Now hither comes ; his end the same. 
The same pretext of sylvan game. 
What grace for Highland Chiefs, judge ye 
By fate of Border chivalry ! 

terpret, give a specious or false meaning. — 616. tamed tlie Border- 
side. " He assembled a flying army of ten thousand men, consisting of 
his principal nobility and their followers, who were directed to bring their 
hawks and dogs with them. . . . With this array he swept through 
Ettrick Forest [part of the old Great Caledonian Forest, and nearly coin- 
ciding ^\^t\x the county of Selkirk, S.S.E. of Edinburgh], where he hanged 
over the gate of his own castle Piers Cockburn of Henderlaud, who had 
prepared, according to tradition, a feast for King James's reception. He 
caused Adam Scott of Tushielaw also to be executed, who was distin- 
guished by the title of King of the Border. But the most noted victim 
. . . was John Armstrong of Gilnockie, famous in Scottish song, who, 
confiding in his own supposed innocence, met the King, with a retinue of 
thirty-six persons, all of whom were hanged at Carlenrig. ... ' There- 
after was great -peace and rest a long time, wherethrough the King had 
great profit.'" Scott.— &io. The Meggat flows into the Yarrow, which 
flows into the Ettrick. The Ettrick and the Teviot flow into the Tweed, 
which, forming part of the boundary between England and Scotland, 
enters the North Sea at Berwick. — See line 159.— 624. braes = shelving 
or hilly ground [Ginn]? brows or sides of hills [Rolfe] ? declivities? — iii, 
541 ; iv, 529. — Celtic bre, a peak ; bruach, a hillside ; Old Eng. braij, bank, 
brow, slope of a hill, declivity. Brae is used in the north of Eng. and in 
Scot. — 627. MS. has " The dales where clans loere ivont to bide." How is this 
inferior? — 632. sylvan. See i, 74. — 634. chivalry = knighthood ? the 
body of knights? their high character ?—Fr. chevalerie, chivalry; chev- 
alier, cavalier, a knight; cheval, Lat. caballus, a horse. See on Knight- 
hood, i, 18. — fate. Is there any doubt that the severity, amounting to 
cruelty, with which James restrained and punished rapine and feudal 
oppression, conduced to the prosperity of Scotland? Did that justify 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 69 

Yet more; amid Glenfinlas' green, 635 

Douglas, thy stately form was seen. 

This by espial sure I know: 

Your counsel in the streight I show." 



XXIX. 

Ellen and Margaret fearfully 

Sought comfort in each other's eye, 640 

Then turned their ghastly look, each one, 

This to her sire, that to her son. 

The hasty color went and came 

In the bold cheek of Malcolm Graeme, 

But from his glance it well appeared 645 

^Twas but for Ellen that he feared; 

While, sorrowful, but undismayed. 

The Douglas thus his counsel said : 

" Brave Eoderick, though the tempest roar. 

It may but thunder and pass o'er; 650 

Nor will I here remain an hour, 

To draw the lightning on thy bower; 

For well thou know'st, at this gray head 

The royal bolt were fiercest sped. 

For thee, who at thy King's command, 655 

Canst aid him with a gallant band, 

Submission, homage, humbled pride, 

Shall turn the Monarch's wrath aside. 

Poor remnants of the Bleeding Heart, 

Ellen and I will seek apart 660 

The refuge of some forest cell, 

There, like the hunted quarry, dwell, 

him? — 636. thy stately form. See i, 572; ii, 784, 785; v, 676. — Why 
is the presence of Douglas iu Glenliulas mentioued ? — 637. espial = act 
of espying? discovery? one who espies? a spj^? scout ? — " Acquaint you 
with the perfect spy o' tlie time." Macbeth, III, i, 120.— -638. your 
counsel give me [Rolfe]? I sliow you your counsel? — streight. Lat. 
stringeye, to draw tight; st?'ictus, drawn close, stretched tight; Old Fr. 
estreit, a narrowness, stringency; Fr. efroit, narrow; Eng. strait, emer- 
gency, perplexity, cramped condition. — Ellipsis here ? See i, 528; ii, 80. 
657. homage. Fr. hommac/e, a man's service; homme, Lat. homo, a 
man; humus, earth ('dust of the earth'!). The feudal tenant on his 
knees declared himself the man, horiio, (houdsman,) of his lord. — See v, 
350.-659. the Bleeding Heart. Line 200.— 662. quarry, i, 127. 



70 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 

Till on the mountain and the moor 

The stern pursuit be passed and o'er." — 

XXX. 

" No, by mine honor, " Eoderick said, 665 

" So help me Heaven, and my good blade ! 

No, never! Blasted be yon Pine, 

My father's ancient crest and mine, 

If from its shade in danger part 

The lineage of the Bleeding Heart! 670 

Hear my blunt speech : grant me this maid 

To wife, thy counsel to mine aid; 

To Douglas, leagued with Roderick Dhu, 

Will friends and allies flock enow; 

Like cause of doubt, distrust, and grief, 675 

Will bind to us each Western Chief. 

When the loud pipes my bridal tell, 

The Links of Forth shall hear the knell, 

The guards shall start in Stirling's porch; 

And when I light the nuptial torch, 680 

A thousand villages in flames 

Shall scare the slumbers of King James ! — 

Nay, Ellen, blench not thus away. 

And, mother, cease these signs, I pray; 

I meant not all my heat might say. — 685 

Small need of inroad or of light, 

When the sage Douglas may unite 

668. crest. See i, 16, 44; iv, 754. — 670. lineage. Lat. linum, flax; 
Lat. linea, A.S. line, Fr. ligne, line; line of descent; Fr. Ugnage, de- 
scent in a line ; family line. — 672. to wife = as or for wife ? To in the 
Bible and Shakes, often has this meaning. " The seven had her to wife," 
Luke, XX, 33. — 674. enow {ow as in noiv). The old iDlural of enoufih. — 
allies. Accent? — Lat. «d, to; lif/dre, to bind. — 678. Links of Forth. 
Winding of the river Forth from Stirling to Alloa (at the head of the 
Firth).— 679. Stirling's porch. Stirling is 30 miles W.N. AV. of Edin- 
burgh. " Its castle was long the favorite residence of James V, and 
contains the palace and the parliament house, built by him but now used 
as bai'racks." — porcli. Lat. porticus, from porta, a gate. — 680. nup- 
tial torch. Among the Komaus, five torches were carried to light the 
bride to the bridegroom's house. — Matt., xxv, 1-9. — 683. blench = shrink 
baclc? start away? grow pale? — "He blenches not " = he flinches not, 
does not shrink in fear. Ivanhoe. — Hamlet, II, ii, 584. — A.S. blencan, to 
blink, cheat ; influenced in forin and meaning by flinch. Worcester. — 
685. heat. " Misprinted heart in many editions." Rolfe. Would heart 
give a reasonable meaning ? Exi^lain ! — 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 71 

Each mountain clan in friemlly band, 

To guard the passes of their land, 

Till the foiled King from pathless glen 690 

Shall bootless turn him home again." 



XXXI. 

There are who have at midnight hour 

In slumber scaled a dizzy tower, 

And, on the verge that beetled o'er 

The ocean tide's incessant roar, cm 

Dreamed calmly out their dangerous dream, 

Till wakened by the morning beam ; 

When, dazzled by the eastern glow. 

Such startler cast his glance below, 

And saw unmeasured depth around, 700 

And heard unintermitted sound, 

And thought the battled fence so frail 

It waved like cobweb in the gale; — 

Amid his senses' giddy wheel, 

Did he not desperate impulse feel 705 

Headlong to plunge himself below 

And meet the worst his fears foreshow? — 

Thus Ellen, dizzy and astound. 

As sudden ruin yawned around, 

By crossing terrors Avildly tossed, 710 

Still for the Douglas fearing most. 

Could scarce the desperate thought withstand, 

To buy his safety with her hand. 

690. MS. Till the foiled Kir.?, from MU and g-lon. 

Clearly improved? — 691. bootless. A.S. hot, advantage, profit. — In 
Shakes. "Doth not Brutns bootless kneel?" I.e. kneel in vain. Cleo- 
patra says, " I will hoot thee " ; i.e. give thee * to boot.' 

(592. Ellipsis ? So in iii, 10 ? — Frequently so in Shakes. —094. beetled. 
" Middle Eng. hitelhroived = having projecting broAvs. . . . The sense is 
' with biting brows,' i.e. with brows projecting like an nppor jaw." Skeat. 

— Worcester thinks beetle " alludes to the prominent eyes of some beetles " ! 

— In Hamlet, heetles = ]nts, projects. — ()!)6. MS. has desperate instead of 
dangerous. As good? — 102. battled = battlemented [Rolfe]? i.e. in- 
dented, or made \\ith open square or oblong spaces at regular intervals ? 
See vi, 7. — fence = parapet ? wall? — 703, it waved. Ellipsis still fre- 
quent? See 788, 789. — 708. astound. Shakes, almost always avoids 
adding cZ or 6r7 to a verb ending with tliesoundof cZor t? — 710. crossings 
conflicting [Rolfe], rushing athwart her mind? — 



72 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 



XXXII. 

Such purpose dread could jMalcolm spy 

In Ellen's quivering lip and eye, 715 

And eager rose to speak, — but ere 

His tongue could hurry forth his fear. 

Had Douglas marked the hectic strife, 

Where death seemed combating with life; 

For to her cheek, in feverish flood, 720 

One instant rushed the throbbing blood, 

Then ebbing back, with sudden sway. 

Left its domain as wan as clay. 

" Eoderick, enough ! enough ! " he cried, 

"My daughter cannot be thy bride; 725 

Not that the blush to wooer dear, 

Nor paleness that of maiden fear. 

It may not be, — forgive her, Chief, 

Nor hazard aught for our relief. 

Against his sovereign, Douglas ne'er 730 

Will level a rebellious spear. 

'Twas I that taught his youthful hand 

To rein a steed and wield a brand ; 

I see him yet, the princely boy ! 

Not Ellen more my pride and joy ; 735 

I love him still, despite my wrongs 

By hasty wrath and slanderous tongues. 

O, seek the grace you well may find 

Without a cause to mine combined ! " 

XXXIII. 

Twice through the hall the Chieftain strode; 740 
The waving of his tartans broad, 
And darkened brow, where wounded pride 
With ire and disappointment vied, 

716. ere. The 1st ed. has e'er. Difference in meaning? What is the 
proper pronunciation of each? — 718. hectic. Gr. 6<Tt/cds, Lat. hecticus, 
Fr. hectique, habitual, consumptive. — 719. combating. Accent here? 
— 723. domain. Lat. dominus, lord; dominium, property; lordship; 
Fr. domcnne. — wan. A.S. wanian, to wane? — 731. level. Lat. /iftra, 
a pound, a measure for liquids, a balance, water poise, level; libella, 
water level, plumb level. How originated the signification aimf — 

741. tartans. Line 343.-747. nighted = darkened ? overtaken by 



V 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 73 

Seemed, by the torch's gloomy light, 

Like the ill Demon of the niglit, 745 

Stooping his pinions' shadowy sway 

Upon the nighted pilgrim's way: 

But, unrequited Love ! thy dart 

Plunged deepest its envenomed smart! 

And Roderick, with thine anguish stung, 750 

At length the hand of Douglas wrung, 

While eyes that mocked at tears before 

With bitter drops were running o'er! 

The death-pangs of long-cherished hope 

Scarce in that ample breast had scope, 755 

But, struggling with his spirit proud. 

Convulsive heaved its checkered" shroud, 

While every sob — so mute were all — 

Was heard distinctly through the hall ! 

The son's despair, the mother's look, 7G0 

111 might the gentle Ellen brook; 

She rose, and to her side there came, 

To aid her parting steps, the Graeme. 



XXXIV. 

Then Roderick from the Douglas broke — 

As flashes flame through sable smoke, 705 

Kindling its wreaths, long, dark, and low, 

To one broad blaze of ruddy glow, 

So the deep anguish of despair 

Burst, in fl.erce jealousy, to air. 

With stalwart grasp his hand he laid 770 

On Malcolm's breast and belted plaid: 

night? — See i, 42(3. Used in Shakes., Beaumont and Fletcher. Gener- 
ally supposed to be a contraction. — '* Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color 
off." Hamlet, I, n,6H. — 757. shroud = plaid '.' — Poetic? Implying more 
than dress? Any allusion to the winding-sheet of the dead? — See line 
254. For checkered, see on tai^tans, line 343. — French echiquier, a chess- 
board. — 761. brook, i, 566; iii, 77. — 763. parting. Line 94; iv, 313. — 
The Grame. Line 109. — 

76S. MS. The deep-<o??e(Z anfruish of despair 
Flushed, in fierce jealousy, to air. 

Not good? — 770. -with stalwart grasp, etc. Jeffrey comments on this 
scene as follows: "There is something foppish and out of character in 
Malcolm's rising to lead Ellen out of her own parlor; and the sort of 



74 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cAXTO II. 

"Back, beardless boy! " lie sternly said, 

" Back, minion ! lioldst thou thus at naught 

The lesson I so lately taught? 

This roof, the Douglas, and that maid, 775 

Thank thou for punishment delayed." 

Eager as greyhound on his game, 

Fiercely with Roderick grappled Graeme. 

" Perish my name, if aught afford 

Its Chieftain safety save his sword! " 780 

Thus as they strove their desperate hand 

Griped to the dagger or the brand. 

And death had been — but Douglas rose, 

And thrust between the struggling foes 

His giant strength : — "Chieftains, forego! 785 

I hold the first who strikes, my foe ! — 

Madmen, forbear your frantic jar ! 

What! is the Douglas fallen so far, 

His daughter's hand is deemed the spoil 

Of such dishonorable broil?" 790 

Sullen and slowly they unclasp. 

As struck with shame, their desperate grasp, 

And each upon his rival glared. 

With foot advanced and blade half bared. 

XXXV. 

Ere yet the brands aloft were flung, 795 

Margaret on Roderick's mantle hung, 
And Malcolm heard his Ellen's scream. 
As faltered throua:h terrific dream. 



wrestling match that takes place between the rival chieftains on tlie 
occasion is humiliating and indecorous." Is Jeffrey right ? — 773. minion. 
Ger. minne, love, remembrance ; Fr. mignon, favorite, darling. Its use 
as a substantive, with a sinister sense, was proba])ly borrowed from the 
Italian. Brachet, Skeat. — 774. lately. See line 319. — 

T31. MS. Thus, as they .strove, each better hand 
Grasped for the dagger or the brand. 

Good change? — 786. Scott apologizes for having taken the whole of this 
line from the tragedy of Douglas. — 789. Ellipsis ? See 703. — 

791. MS. Sullen and slow the rivals bold 

Loosed at his hest then- desperate hold, 
But either still on other glared. 
Much improved ? 

795. brands. "A pet word with Scott." Rolfe. — 798. as faltered. 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 75 

Then Eoderick plunged in sheath his sword, 
And veiled his wrath in scornful word : 800 

"Rest safe till morning; pity 'twere 
Such cheek should feel the midnight air! 
Then mayst thou to James Stuart tell, 
Koderick will keep the lake and fell. 
Nor lackey with his freeborn clan 805 

The pageant pomp of earthly man. 
More would he of Clan- Alpine know. 
Thou canst our strength and passes show. — 
Malise, what ho ! " — his henchman came : 
"Give our safe-conduct to the Graeme." 8io 

Young Malcolm answered, calm and bold: 
" Fear nothing for thy favorite hold ; 
The spot an angel deigned to grace 
Is blessed, though robbers haunt the place. 
Thy churlish courtesy for those * 815 

Reserve, who fear to be thy foes. 
As safe to me the mountain way ^ 
At midnight as in blaze of day, 
Though with his boldest at his back 
Even Roderick Dhu beset the track. — 820 

Brave Douglas, — lovely Ellen, — nay, 
- Naught here of parting will I say — 
Earth does not hold a lonesome glen 
So secret but we meet again. — 
Chieftain ! we too shall find an hour ! " — 825 

He said, and left the sylvan bower. 



Ellipsis? Line TiOl.— 801. pity 'twere. Note the rhyme! — 802. such 
cheek, etc. " Hardihood," says Scott, " was in every respect so essential 
to the character of a Highlander, that the reproach of effeminacy was the 
most bitter which could be thrown upon liim." He gives several striking 
examples of their readiness to endure great hardship. — 804. feU. leei. 
fell, a mountain, akin to Swedish fjiUl, a ridge or chain of mountains. 
Fell = a barren or stony hill ; an uncultivated mountain shipe ? — 
805. lackey. Fr. laquais, a servant. 809. henchman. A.S. hengest, 
Ger. and Dutch hengsi, a horse. So, a mounted guard, or servant on 
horseback? — Scott is mistaken in giving a different etymology of the 
word. He says, "This officer is a sort of secretary, and is to be ready, 
upon all occasions, to venture his life in defence of his master; and, at 
drinking bouts, he stands behind his seat, at his haunch, from whence his 
title is derived, and watches the conversation, to see if any one offends 
his patron." — 815. churlish. A.S. ceorl, a freeman of the lowest rank, 
a husbandman; whence Carl and Charles; Eng. churl, a rough, surly, 
ill-bred man. — " How many words, originally harmless, have assumed an 
harmful as their secondary meaning! " lYench. — 



76 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO II. 



XXXVI. 

Old Allan followed to the strand — 

Such was the Douglas's command — 

And anxious told, how, on the morn, 

The stern Sir Roderick deep had sworn, 830 

The Fiery Cross should circle o'er 

Dale, glen, and valley, down and moor. 

Much were the peril to the Graeme 

From those who to the signal came; 

Far uj) the lake 'twere safest land, 835 

Himself would row him to the strand. 

He gave his counsel to the wind. 

While Malcolm did, unheeding, bind, 

Round dirk and pouch and broadsword rolled. 

His ample plaid in tightened fold, 840 

And stripped his limbs to such array 

As best might suit the watery wa}^ — 

XXXVII. 

Then spoke abrupt : " Farewell to thee, 

Pattern of old fidelity!" 

The Minstrel's hand he kindly pressed, — 845 

"0, could I point a place of rest! 

My sovereign holds in ward my land, 

My uncle leads my vassal band; 

To tame his foes, his friends to aid, 

Poor Malcolm has but heart and blade. 850 

Yet, if there be one faithful Grseme 

Who loves the chieftain of his name. 



829. on the morn the Fieiy Ci'oss should circle? or, on the morn 
Roderick had sworn ? — 831. Fiery Cross. " When a chieftain designed 
to summon his clan upon any sudden or important emergency, he slew a 
goat, and making a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the 
tire and extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was called 
the Fiery Cross, also Crean Tarigh, or the Cross of Shame, because diso- 
bedience to what the symbol implied, inferred infamy." Scott. The 
significance, construction, consecration, and use of this cross are described 
and illustrated with great particularity in the next Canto. — 832. down. 
See on 1. 616, 1st Canto. — 838. did. See on did in i, 4. — 

846. point = point out ? appoint ? — Is the word a contraction of ap- 
puint? Not according to Rolfe, although most editors print it 'point. — 



CANTO II.] THE ISLAND. 77 

Not long shall honored Douglas dwell 

Like hunted stag in mountain cell; 

Nor, ere yon pride-swollen robber dare! — 855 

I may not give the rest to air! 

Tell Eoderick Dhu I owed him naught, 

Not the poor service of a boat. 

To waft me to yon mountain-side." 

Then plunged he in the flashing tide. 860 

Bold o'er the flood his head he bore, 

And stoutly steered him from the shore; 

And Allan strained his anxious eye, 

Far mid the lake his form to spy, 

Darkening across each puny wave, 865 

To which the moon her silver gave. 

Fast as the cormorant could skim, 

The swimmer plied each active limb; 

Then landing in the moonliglit dell, 

Loud shouted of his weal to tell. 870 

The Minstrel heard the far halloo, 

And joyful for the shore withdrew. 

860. MS. *'HespoZ:ert7K7plungecH;?«othetide." Bettered? — 862. steered 
him. i, 142. — 865, 866. Do these lines belong with what immediately 
precedes, or with what immediately follows? — 867. cormorant. Lat. 
corvus marinus, a sea crow. 



CANTO THIRD. 



THE GATHERING. 



Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore, 

Who danced our infancy upon their knee, 
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store 

Of their strange ventures happed by land or sea. 
How are they blotted from the things that be ! 5 

How few, all weak and withered of their force. 
Wait on the verge of dark eternity. 

Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse, 
To sweep them from our sight! Time rolls his ceaseless 
course. 

Yet live there still who can remember well, 10 

How, when a mountain chief his bugle blew. 

Both field and forest, dingle, cliff, and dell. 
And solitary heath, the signal knew; 

And fast the faithful clan around him drew, 

What time the warning note was keenly wound, 15 

What time aloft their kindred banner flew. 



Canto III. These two Spenserian stanzas (see beginning of Canto I) 
are particularly tine. Point out their merits. 

1. yore, ii, 305. — 3. legends. Lat. Ze(/enc7a, things worthy to be read. 
Legends or legends? — store, i, 518; vi, 124. — 5. be. Be, as plural, is 
sliortened from Old English been or hen. Not infrequent in the Bible and 
Shakes. E.g., "We be Abraham's seed," John, viii, 33; " They that be 
with us are more than they that be with them," 2 Kings, vi, 1(5, etc. 
— 6. weak and withered of their force. Redundancy ? or tau- 
tology ? — 

10. Ellipsis ? See ii , ()92. — 15. -what time. Lat. qyio tempore, ii, 307 ; 
iv, 9. — 17. gatliering sonnd = the increasing sound? the sound or 
signal for ' the gatherings ' ? — Compare such expressions as ' the gathering 
storm,' * a laboring man,' with such as ' the gathering sound,' ' a laboring 
day.' In the tAvo former, 'gathering' and 'laboring' are particiiDles ; in 
the latter, verbal nouns or gerunds. They all end in -ingy but the ety- 

78 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 79 

While clamorous war-pipes yelled the gathering sound, 
And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, round. 



II. 

The Summer dawn's reflected hue 

To purple changed Lock Katrine blue ; 20 

Mildly and soft the western breeze 

Just kissed the lake, just stirred the trees, 

And the pleased lake, like maiden coy. 

Trembled but dimpled not for joy : 

The mountain-shadows on her breast 25 

Were neither broken nor at rest; 

In bright uncertainty they lie, 

Like future joys to Fancy's eye. 



mologies are different. The participle originally ended in ande, and, 
ende, end, or ind; the verbal noun or gerund, in -ing or img. Finally, 
the ending -ing took the place of all the other terminations. — 18. Fiery 
Cross. See ii, 831. " It was delivered to a swift and trusty messenger, 
who ran full speed with it to the next hamlet, where he presented it to the 
principal person with a single word implying the place of rendezvous. 
He who received the symbol was bound to send it forward with equal 
despatch to the next village, and thus it passed with incredible celerity 
through all the district which owed allegiance to the chief. . . . During 
the civil war of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross often made its circuit ; and upon 
one occasion it passed through the whole district of Breadalbane, a tract 
of thirty-two miles, in three hours. The late Alexander Stewart, Esq., of 
Invernahyle, described to me his having sent round the Fiery Cross through 
the district of Appine, daring the same commotion." Scott. — 

19. reflected hue. "Nature becomes dear to Scott in a threefold 
way: dear to him, first, as containing those remains or memories of the 
past, which he cannot find in cities ; . . . dear, secondly, in its moorland 
liberty; . . . and dear to him, finally, in that perfect beauty, desired alike 
in cities and in men." Ruskin's Modern Painters, iii, 278. — 20. blue. 
See on i, 209. " In this love of beauty, observe that the love of color is a 
leading element, his healthy mind being incapable of losing, under any 
modern false teaching, its joy in brilliancy of hue. ... In general, if he 
does not mean to say much about things, the 07ie character wliich he will 
give is color, using it with the most perfect mastery and faitlifulness." 
Buskin.— 2S. like future joys. See i, 219. "He has stopped short 
without entirely expressing it [i.e., the moral, which Scott is fond of 
drawing]. His completed thought would be that these future joys, like 
the mountain-shadows, were never to be attained." Ruskin. — Rolfe, 
with his usual insight and taste, neatly suggests that this passage " also 
illustrates what is comparatively rare in figurative language — taking the 
immaterial to exemplify the material. The latter is constantly used to 
symbolize or elucidate the former ; l)nt one would have to search long in 
our modern poetry to find a dozen instances where, as here, the relation 



80 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

The water-lily to the light 

Her chalice reared of silver bright; 30 

The doe awoke, and to the lawn, 

Begemmed with dew-drops, led her fawn; 

The gray mist left the mountain-side, 

The torrent showed its glistening pride; 

Invisible in flecked sky 35 

The lark sent down her revelry; 

The blackbird and the speckled thrush 

Good-morrow gave from brake and bush; 

In answer cooed the cushat dove 

Her notes of peace and rest and love. • 40 



III. 

No thought of peace, no thought of rest, 
Assuaged the storm in Eoderick's breast. 
With sheathed broadsword in his hand, 
Abrupt he paced the islet strand. 
And eyed the rising sun, and laid 45 

His hand on his impatient blade. 



is reversed. Cf. 639 below." — 30. chalice. Lat. ca ^ya;, cup ; flower-cup. 
— Of this passage, Ruskin says, it is "still more interesting, because it 
has no form in it at all, except in one word {chalice), but wholly composes 
its imagery either of color, or of that delicate half-believed life which we 
have seen to be so important an element in modern landscape." — reared. 
The 1st ed. reads oped. Equally good? — 32. After line 32 the MS. 
reads, — 

Invisible in fleecy cloud, 

The lark sent down her matins loud ; 

The light mist left the mountain's side, etc. 

Judicious change? — 35. invisible. So in Shelley's Ode to a Skylark, — 

" Like a star of heaven 
In the broad daylight. 
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight." -- 

36. revelry. Lat. rebellare ; Old Fr. reveler, to rebel; or, Fr. reveiller, to 
arouse. — 38. good-morroAV gave. Cf. Milton, in L' Allegro, — 

" Then to come in spite of sorrow 
And at my window bid good morrow." — 

39. cushat dove = ring dove ? wood pigeon ? — A.S. cusceotef a wild 
pigeon. — 

46, impatient. Personification? 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 81 

Beneath a rock, his vassals' care 

Was prompt the ritual to prepare, 

With deep and deathful meaning fraught; 

For such Antiquity had taught 50 

Was preface meet, ere yet abroad 

The Cross of Fire should take its road. 

The shrinking band stood oft aghast 

At the impatient glance he cast ; — 

Such glauce the mountain eagle threw, 55 

As, from the cliffs of Benvenue, 

She spread her dark sails on the wind, 

And, high in middle heaven reclined, 

With her broad shadow on the lake, 

Silenced the warblers of the brake. 60 



IV. 

A heap of withered boughs was piled, 

Of juniper and rowan wild, 

Mingled with shivers from the oak, 

Rent by the lightning's recent stroke. 

Brian the Hermit by it stood, 65 

Barefooted, in his frock and hood. 

His grizzled beard and matted hair 

Obscured a visage of despair; 

His naked arms and legs, seamed o'er, 

The scars of frantic penance bore. 70 



4T. MS. Hard by, his vassals' early care 
The mystic ritual prepare. 

Altered for the better? — 48. ritual = performance of religious service 
[Ginn] ? prescribed order of religious ceremonies ? — Lat. rltns: Fr. Htuel, 
order of rites. — 50. Antiquity = the men of old [RolfeJ ? olden times 
[Ginn]? ancient usage? — 59. Rolfe quotes appositely from Longfellow's 
Maidenhood, — 

" Seest thou shadows sailing by, 
As the dove, A\'ith startled eye, 
Sees the falcon's shadow fly ? " — 

62. rcwan = roan tree, mountain ash. Pron. row-an. — This tree was 
used in magical arts. " It was a common custom, in order to prevent the 
fatal effects of an ' evil eye,' to cut a piece of this tree, peel it, tie a red 
thread about it, and attach it to the lintel of the cow-house." Taylor. — 
66. barefooted. Shakespeare never would have appended the -erf to 
harefoot? ii, 708. — 67. grizzled. Fr. (jris, gray ; (frlsaille, a gray color. 



82 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

That monk, of savage form and face, 

The impending danger of his race 

Had drawn from deepest solitude, 

Far in Benharrow's bosom rude. 

Not his the mien of Christian priest, 75 

But Druid's, from the grave released, 

Whose hardened heart and eye might brook 

On human sacrifice to look; 

And much, 'twas said, of heathen lore 

Mixed in the charms he muttered o'er. 80 

The hallowed creed gave only worse 

And deadlier emphasis of curse. 

No peasant sought that Hermit's prayer. 

His cave the pilgrim shunned with care; 

The eager huntsman knew his bound 85 

And in mid chase called off his hound; 

Or if, in lonely glen or stratn. 

The desert-dweller met his path. 

He prayed, and signed the cross between, 

While terror took devotion's mien. 90 

V. 

Of Brian's birth strange tales were told. 
His mother watched a midnight fold, 

— 71 . This monk, whom the impending danger had drawn from Benharro^v, 
reminds its of Robin Hood's chaplain, Friar Tuck; and still more of tliose 
denounced in an excommunication, of tlie time of Henry VIII, quoted by 
Scott from the Bisliop of Durham; "which said chaplains do administer 
sacraments and sacramental rites to the aforesaid manifest and infamous 
thieves, robbers, depredators, receivers of stolen goods," etc. — 74. Ben- 
harrow. Mountain near the north end of lioch Lomond. — 7fi. Druid. 
An atmosphere of mystery has always enveloped these priests of the 
ancient Celts; and this mystery deepens into horror as we read of the 
hu^m an sacrifices. "For whom they took in war, tliey held it lawful to 
sacrifice; and, by the entrails of men, used divination." Milton's History 
of Britain, — n .'hrooK. i, 5B() ; ii, 7()1. — 81. MS. " While the bless'd creed 
gave only worse." Improved on ? — 82. curse. As Caliban, in The Tempest, 

says, 

" You taught me language, and my profit on't 
Is, I know how to curse I " 

85. bound. That is, of his haunts [Rolfe] ? — 87. glen or strath = narrow 
or broad valley ? ii, 206. — 

89. ]SIS. He praj^ed ivith many a cross between. 
And terror took devotion's mien. 
Not so good? — 

91. iSrian's birth. Scott tells us he did not originate the story, but 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 83 

Built deep within a dreary glen, 

Where scattered lay the bones of men 

In some forgotten battle slain, 95 

And bleached by drifting wind and rain. 

It might have tamed a warrior's heart 

To view such mockery of his art ! 

The knot-grass fettered there the hand 

Which once could burst an iron band; 100 

Beneath the broad and ample bone, 

That bucklered heart to fear unknown, 

A feeble and a timorous guest, 

The fieldfare framed her lowly nest; 

There the slow blindworm left his slime 105 

On the fleet limbs that mocked at time ; 

And there, too, lay the leader's skull, 

Still wreathed with chaplet, flushed and full. 

For heath-bell with her purple bloom 

Supplied the bonnet and the plume. 110 

All night, in this sad glen, the maid 

Sat shrouded in her mantle's shade: 

She said no shepherd sought her side. 

No hunter's hand her snood untied. 

Yet ne'er again to braid her hair 115 

The virgin snood did Alice wear; 

Gone was her maiden glee and sport, 

Her maiden girdle all too short, 

took it from ' e^eographical collections made by the Laird of Macfarlane.' 
— 97. It might have tamed a warrior's heart, etc. So Byron in his 
Siege of Corinth, — 

" But when all is past, it is huuiblin? to tread 
On the weltering field of the tombless dead 
And see worms of the eartli and fowls of the air, 
Beasts of the forest all gathering there ; 
All regarding man as their prey, 
All rejoicing in his decay I " — 

99. knot-grass = twitch-grass? a common weed with jointed stems? 
dog grass? — 102. bucklered = shielded as a buckler does? protected 
by a shield? — 101. fieldfare = fellfare ? small thrush? — 105. blind- 
worm = slow-worm ; a small limbless lizard having minute eyes, and 
popularly believed to be blind. — 108. ehaplet. Old Fr. chapel, a cap; 
Fr. chapelet, a little head-dress. — Is all this in good taste ? Do you concur 
with Jeffrey? He says, "These reflections on an ancient field of battle 
afford the most remarkable instance of false taste in all Mr. Scott's 
writings. Yet the brevity and variety of the images serve well to show 
that, even in his errors, there are traces of a powerful genius." — 
111. snood, i, 363; iii, 485. — 120. or . . . or. Poetic for either . . . or? — 



84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

Nor sought she, from that fatal night, 

Or holy church or blessed rite, 120 

But locked her secret in her breast, 

And died in travail, unconfessed. 



VI. 

Alone, among his young compeers. 

Was Brian from his infant years; 

A moody and heart-broken boy, 125 

Estranged from sympathy and joy, 

Bearing each taunt which careless tongue 

On his mysterious lineage flung. 

Whole nights he spent by moonlight pale. 

To wood and stream his hap to wail, 130 

Till, frantic, he as truth received 

What of his birth the crowd believed, 

And sought, in mist and meteor fire. 

To meet and know his Phantom Sire! 

In vain, to soothe his wayward fate, " 135 

The cloister oped her pitying gate; 

In vain the learning of the age 

Unclasped the sable-lettered page; 

Even in its treasures he could find 

Food for the fever of his mind. 140 

Eager he read whatever tells 

Of magic, cabala, and spells. 

And every dark pursuit allied 

To curious and presumptuous pride; 

131. MS. Till, driven to frenzy, he believed 
The leg-end of his birth received. 

More graceful in the text ? — 133. meteor. Gr. ^terewpo?, meteoros, aloft, sus- 
pended, soaring. — 136. cloister. i,285. — 138. sable-lettered = black- 
lettered ? in ' Old English ' letters ? In the earliest English manuscripts and 
books, the heavy black letters or types were used. — 142. cabala = mys- 
teries? enchantment? — Hebrew gabbaleh, tradition, mysterious doctrine. 
The cabala was a kind of traditional interpretation of the Scriptures. It 
treats of the nature of God and the mystery of human existence. "It 
assumes that every letter, word, number, and accent of Scripture contains 
a hidden sense ; and it teaches the methods of interpretation for ascertain- 
ing these meanings." Liternational Diet. — Brachet says, " This word in 
the middle ages signified (1) a secret interpretation, (2) a mysterious science 
of commerce with supsrnatural beings. From the sense of occult meas- 
ures, secret efforts to attain one's end, comes the modern signification of 
cabal." — 144. curio VIS = singular? queer? inquisitive. Lat. curiosu^, 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 85 

Till with fired brain and nerves o'erstrung, 145 
And heart with mystic horrors wrung, 
Desperate he sought Benharrow's den, 
And hid him from the haunts of men. 



VII. 

The desert gave him visions wild. 

Such as might suit the spectre's child. 150 

Where with black cliffs the torrents toil, 

He watched the wheeling eddies boil. 

Till from their foam his dazzled eyes 

Beheld the River Demon rise : 

The mountain mist took form and limb 155 

Of noontide hag or goblin grim ; 

The midnight wind came wild and dread, 

Swelled with the voices of the dead; 

Far on the future battle-heath 

His eye beheld the ranks of death : 160 

Thus the lone Seer, from mankind hurled, 

Shaped forth a disembodied world. 

One lingering sympathy of mind 

Still bound him to the mortal kind ; 

The only parent he could claim 165 

Of ancient Alpine's lineage came. 

Late had he heard, in prophet's dream. 

The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream; 

careful, inquisitive; from quaerere, to seek, inquire. — 148. him. Reflex- 
ive? i, 142; iii, 355. 

154. River Demon. Not a hippopotamus ! Scott tells us, " The River 
Demon, or River-horse, for it is that form which he commonly assumes, is 
the Kelpy of the Lowlands, an evil and malicious spirit, delighting to 
forebode and to witness calamity. He frequents most Highland lakes and 
rivers ; and one of his most remarkable exploits was performed upon the 
banks of Loch Vannachar, in the very district which forms the scene of 
our action : it consisted in the destruction of a funeral procession, with all 
its attendants." — 156. noontide hag, etc. " The ' noontide hag,' called 
in Gaelic, GlasUch, a tall, emaciated, gigantic, female figure, is supposed 
in particular to haunt the district of Knoidart. A goblin, dressed in 
antique armor, and having one hand covered with blood, called from that 
circumstance, Lhamdearg, or Red-hand, is a tenant of the forests of 
Glenmore and Rotbiemurcus." Scott. — 161. mankind. Accent here? 
usual? See iv, 552. — 

168. MS. The fotal Ben Shie's dismal scream : 

And seen her ivrinkled form, the sign 
Of woe and death to Alpine's line. 



86 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

Sounds, too, had come in midnight blast 

Of charging steeds, careering fast 170 

Along Benharrow's shingly side, 

AVhere mortal horseman ne'er might ride; 

The thunderbolt had split the pine, — ^ 

All augured ill to Alpine's line. 

He girt his loins, and came to show 175 

The signals of impending woe. 

And now stood prompt to bless or ban, 

As bade the Chieftain of his clan. 



VIII. 

'Twas all prepared; — and from the rock 

A goat, the patriarch of the flock, 180 

Before the kindling pile was laid, 

And pierced by Koderick's ready blade. 

Patient the sickening victim eyed 

The life-blood ebb in crimson tide 

Down his clogged beard and shaggy limb, 185 

Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim. 



Improved in rewriting? — "Most great families in the Highlands were 
supposed to have a tutelar, or rather a domestic, spirit attached to them, 
who took an interest in their prosperity, and intimated, by its wailings, 
any approaching disaster. . . . The Ben-Shie implies a female fairy, 
whose lamentations were often supposed to precede the death of a chief- 
tain. . . . When she is visible, it is in the form of an old woman with a 
blue mantle and streaming hair." Scott. — 169. sounds, too. "A pres- 
age of the kind alluded to in the text is still believed to announce death 
to the ancient Highland family of McLean of Lochbuy. The spirit of an 
ancestor slain in battle is heard to gallop thrice around the family resi- 
dence, ringing his fairy bridle, and thus intimating the approaching 
calamity." Scott. — 170. So Milton : 

" As when, to warn proud cities, war appears. 
Waged ill the troubled sky, and armies rush 
To battle in the clouds ; before each van 
Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears. 
Till thickest legions close." Par. Lost, ii, 533-537. — 

171. shingly = gravelly or pebbly? — See v, 46, 150. — Norw. singla, to 
rattle, jingle, from the rattliug of 'stones by the surf. — 174. augured = 
foretokened? — Probably Lat. avis, bird; and Sanscrit gar, to show, pro- 
claim. " The Roman augurs practised divination by observing the flight " 
and notes "of birds."— Hence augionj, the foreseeing or foretelling of 
events by observing signs and omens ; a means of divination ; prognosti- 
cation. — 177. ban. Old Fr. and Teut. bann, or ban, a curse. — 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 87 

The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer, 

A slender crosslet framed with care, 

A cubit's length in measure due: 

The shaft and limbs were rods of yew, 190 

Whose parents in Inch-Cailliach wave 

Their shadows o'er Clan-Alpine's grave, 

And, answering Lomond's breezes deep. 

Soothed many a chieftain's endless sleep. 

The Cross thus formed he held on high, 195 

With wasted hand and haggard eye. 

And strange and mingled feelings woke, 

While his anathema he spoke : — 



IX. 

" Woe to the clansman who shall view 

This symbol of sepulchral yew, 200 

Forgetful that its branches grew 

Where weep the heavens their holiest dew 

On Alpine's dwelling low! 
Deserter of his Chieftain's trust, 
He ne'er shall mingle with their dust, 205 

But, from his sires and kindred thrust, 
Each clansman's execration just 

Shall doom him wrath and woe." 



188. crosslet. Let is one of many diminntive endinejs? — framed. 
Usually here misprinted formed. — 189. cubit's. Properly the distance 
from the elbow to the end of the middle linger; the forearm. — "The 
Hebrew cubit was nearly 23 inches; the Roman, 111." Worcester. — 
190. yew. This tree is constantly associated with graveyards in Great 
Britain. — 191. Inch-Cailliach. " Inch-Cailliach, the ' Isle of Nuns,' or 
' Isle of Old Women,' is a most beautiful island at the lower extremity of 
Loch Lomond. . . . The burial ground continues to be used. . . . The 
monuments of the lairds of Macgregor, and of other families claiming a 
descent from the old Scottish King Alpine, are the most remarkable." 
Scott. — 

198. anathema = excommunication ? — Gr. avi, ana, up ; 9e, the, to 
place. Hence the word literally meant a thing set up or set apart, a thing 
devoted, a thing accursed. See 1 Corinthians, xvi, 22. — It denoted the 
devoting of any man, animal, city, or thing to be extirpated, destroyed, 
consumed, and, as it were, annihilated. — 203. dwelling low. See line 
192, and end of note on line 191. — 

207. MS. Our warriors, on his worthless bust. 
Shall speak disgrace and woe. 



88 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

He paused; — the word the vassals took, 

With forward step and fiery look, 210 

On high their naked brands they shook, 

Their clattering targets wildly strook ; 

And first in murmur low. 
Then, like the billow in his course, 
That far to seaward finds his source, 215 

And flings to shore his mustered force, 
Burst with loud roar their answer hoarse, 

" Woe to the traitor, woe ! " 
Ben-an's gray scalp the accents knew. 
The joyous wolf from covert drew, 220 

The exulting eagle screamed afar, — 
They knew the voice of Alpine's war. 



X. 

The shout was hushed on lake and fell, 

The Monk resumed his muttered spell : 

Dismal and low its accents came, 225 

The while he scathed the Cross with flame; 

A'ad the few words that reached the air, 

Although the holiest name was there. 

Had more of blasphemy than prayer. 

But when he shook above the crowd 230 

Its kindled points, he spoke aloud : — 

" Woe to the wretch who fails to rear 

At this dread sign the ready spear ! 

How better ? — 209. vassals. See ii, 429. — 

212, 213. MS. Their clattering targets hardly strook ; 
And first they muttered low. 

Improved? — strook, old form, used for rhyme? — 214-217. "The repeti- 
tion of the same rhyme here gives well the cumulative effect of the rising 
billow." Rolfe.—211. See i, 73. — 219. scalp ... knew! — Is Byron's 
better? 

" Above me are the Alps, 
The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls 
Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps." Byron. 

228. MS. Although the holy name was there. 

Judicious emendation ? — 229. more of blasphemy than prayer. Re- 
minding of, 

"Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes. 
And being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two, 
And sleeps again." — Shakes. Romeo and Jul., I, iv, 86-88. 



CAXTO III.] THE GATHERING. 89 

For, as the flames this symbol sear, 

His home, the refuge of his fear, 235 

A kindred fate shall know ; 
Far o'er its roof the volumed flame 
Clan-Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim. 
While maids and matrons on his name 
Shall call down wretchedness and shame 240 

And infamy and woe." 
Then rose the cry of females, shrill 
As goshawk's whistle on the hill, 
Denouncing misery and ill. 
Mingled with childhood's babbling trill 245 

Of curses stammered slow ; 
Answering with imprecation dread, 
" Sunk be his home in embers red ! 
And cursed be the meanest shed 
That e'er shall hide the houseless head 250 

We doom to want and woe ! " 
A sharp and shrieking echo gave, 
Coir-Uriskin, thy goblin cave! 
And the gray pass where birches wave 

On Beala-nam-bo. 255 

— 243. goshawk = goose-hawk, a kind of hawk 'noted for powerful 
flight, activity, and courage.' — The etymology of the word curiously illus- 
trates the changes sometimes undergone. Goose is probably from a base 
GHA, to gape, yawn ; whence gander, a gaping animal, and cha-os, a yawn- 
ing abyss ; Greek xv^y chen, a goose ; Sanscrit hansa ; Lat. anser ; old 
Anglo-Sax. r/ans ; later A.S. gds (long o) ; Gev. gans. Hawk is probably 
from a base hab, to seize; A.S. hafoc, whence havoc; Icel. haukr. — 
245. childhood's babbling trill. "" The whole of this stanza [242-245] 
is very impressive; the mingling of childi'en's curses is the climax of 
horror. Note the meaning of the triple curse. The cross is of ancestral 
yew — the defaulter is cut off from communion with his clan; — it is 
seared in the fire — the fire shall destroy his dwelling; — it is dipped in 
blood — his heart's blood is to be shed." Taylor. — trill. A word of 
imitative origin. Ital. trlUare, to trill, shake, quaver; utter tremulous 
tones. — childhood's babbling trill! 

" No child but screamed out curses 
And shook its little fist ! " Macaulay's Horatius. 

— 253. Coir-Uriskin. — See on line 654. — "A very steep and most roman- 
tic hollow in the mountain of Ben venue, overhanging the southeastern 
extremity of Loch Katrine. It is surrounded with stupendous rocks, and 
overshadowed with birch trees mingled with oaks. . . . The name liter- 
ally imijlies the 'Corri, or Den, of the wild or shaggy men.' . . . Tradi- 
tion has ascribed to the Urisk, who gives name to the cavern, a figure 
between a goat and a man, in short . . . precisely that of the Grecian 
Satyr." Scott. — ^ee lines (321-059.-255. Beala-nam-bo. As Coir- 



90 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 



XI. 

Then deeper paused tlie priest anew, 

And hard his laboring breath he drew, 

While, with set teeth and clenched hand, 

And eyes that glowed like fiery brand, 

He meditated curse more dread 260 

And deadlier on the clansman's head 

Who, summoned to his chieftain's aid. 

The signal saw and disobeyed. 

The crosslet's points of sparkling wood 

He quenched among the bubbling blood, 265 

And, as again the sign he reared. 

Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard : 

"When flits this Cross from man to man, 

Vich-Alpine's summons to his clan, 

Burst be the ear that fails to heed ! 270 

Palsied the foot that shuns to speed ! 

May ravens tear the careless eyes. 

Wolves make the coward heart their prize! 

As sinks that blood-stream in the earth. 

So may his heart's-blood drench his hearth! 275 

As dies in hissing gore the spark, 

Quench thou his light, Destruction dark! 

And be the grace to him denied. 

Bought by this sign to all beside ! " 

He ceased; no echo gave again 280 

The murmur of the deep Amen. 

XII. 

Then Hoderick with impatient look 
From Brian's hand the symbol took: 

Urisldn, the Goblin's Cave, or 'Den of the wild men,' was on the north 
side, so Beala-nam-bo, ' the pass of the cattle ' was on the other side of 
Benvenue. It was, says Black, " a magnificent glade, overhung with birch 
trees, by which the cattle, taken in forays, were conveyed within the pro- 
tection of the Trosachs." See also note on line 664. 

274, 275. Observe the rhyme.' — 279. Rolfe suggests that the phrase to 
allis antithetical to to him, and that we might suspect that Scott wrote 
brought if all the editions did not read bought. Why is bought better 
than brought? — See Galatians, iii, 13; iv, 5; Coloss., i, 14, etc. — 

281. MS. The slowly muttered deep Amen. 
As good ? — 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 91 

" Speed, Malise, speed ! " lie said, and gave 

The crosslet to his henchman brave. 285 

" The muster-place be Lanrick mead — 

Instant the time — speed, Malise, speed! " 

Like heath-bird, when the hawks pursue, 

A barge across Loch Katrine flew : 

High stood the henchman on the prow; 290 

So rapidly the barge -men row. 

The bubbles, where they launched the boat, 

Were all unbroken and afloat 

Dancing in form and ripple still. 

When it had neared the mainland hill ; 295 

And from the silver beach's side 

Still was the prow three fathom wide, 

When lightly bounded to the land 

The messenger of blood and brand. 



XIII. 

Speed, Malise, speed! the dun-deer's hide 300 

On fleeter foot was never tied. 

Speed, Malise, speed ! such cause of haste 

Thine active sinews never braced. 

Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast. 

Burst down like torrent from its crest; 305 

With short and springing footstep pass 

The trembling bog and false morass ; 

Across the brook like roebuck bound. 

And thread the brake like questing hound ; 

2S6. MS. Murlagan is the spot decreed. 

— Lanrick mead. A meadow on the northwest end of Loch Vennn- 
char. — 297. three fathom wide. Explain. — A.^. faedm, the breadth 
reached to by the extended arms. — 300. dun-deer's. * ' The present hi^ogae 
of the Highlanders is made of half-dried leather, with holes to admit and 
let out the water ; for walking the moors dry-shod is a matter altogether 
out of the question. The ancient buskin was still ruder, being made of 
undressed deer's hide, with the hair outwards." Scott. See i, 28, 556. — 
A.S. dunn, of a dark color, a color partaking of brown and black, dull 
brown, — In Marmion, V, v, 118, 119, we have 

"The hunted red -deer's undressed hide 
Their hairy buskins well suppUed." 

—304. Steepy. A Shakespearian word. See iv, 374. — 308. roebi^ck. 
Small, but very nimble. — 309, questing. Lat. quaer^re, to seek; Fr. 



92 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

The crag is liigli, the scaur is deep, 3io 

Yet shrink not from the desperate leap: 

Parched are thy burning lips and brow, 

Yet by the fountain pause not now; 

Herald of battle, fate, and fear, 

Stretch onward in thy fleet career ! 315 

The wounded hind thou track' st not now, 

Pursuest not maid through greenwood bough, 

Nor pliest thou now thy flying pace 

With rivals in the mountain race ; 

But danger, death, and warrior deed 320 

Are in thy course — speed, Malise, speed ! 



XIV. 

Fast as the fatal symbol flies. 

In arms the huts and hamlets rise ; 

From winding glen, from upland brown, 

They poured each hardy tenant down. 325 

Nor slacked the messenger his pace; 

He showed the sign, he named the place, 

And, pressing forward like the wind, 

Left clamor and surprise behind. 



quete, Old Fr. qveste, a search. — 310. scaur = rocky cliff? precii>ice? 
— Icel. sker, an isolated rock in the sea ; skor, a rift in a rock. So called 
because cut off ivoxn the mainland. Allied to shear, and share. — Tenny- 
son spells the word scar in his famous Bugle Song, and scaur in his Idyls 
of the King. — 

314. MS. Dread messenger of fate and fear, \ 
Herald of danger, fate, and fear ) 
Stretch onward in thy tieet career ! 
Thou track' st not now the stricken doe, 
Nor maiden coy through greenwood bough. 

Manifest improvement? — 314. Says Taylor, " Note the effect of the whis- 
per-letters, expressing the dread and awe of the message." He refers to 
the h and/in * battle, fate, and fear' ; also the d in ^danger, death, and 
loarrior deed,' line 320. — Fanciful? — 316. hind. A.S. hind, female of 
stag, doe. — 318. pliest. Lat. plicare, to fold; Fr. pHer, to fold, plait, 
bend, bow, turn; Mid. Eug. plien, to bend; mould as wax; (metaphori- 
cally) toil at. See vi, 434. — 

322. Fast as the fatal symbol, etc. Jeffrey says " The description 
of the starting of the Fiery Cross bears more marks of labor than most of 
Mr. Scott's poetry, and borders, perhaps, on straining and exaggei'ation ; 
yet it shows great power." Just criticism? — Taylor says of lines 322, 
323, " The panting haste is expressed by the aspirates," / and h. Really 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 93 

The fisherman forsook the strand, 330 

The swarthy smith took dirk and brand; 

With changed cheer, the mower blithe 

Left in the half -cut swath his scythe; 

The herds without a keeper strayed, 

The plough was in mid-furrow stayed, 335 

The falconer tossed his hawk away, 

The hunter left the stag at bay ; 

Prompt at the signal of alarms, 

Each son of Alpine rushed to arms; 

So swept the tumult and affray 340 

Along the margin of Achray. 

Alas, thou lovely lake! that e'er 

Thy banks should echo sounds of fear! 

The rocks, the bosky thickets, sleep 

So stilly on thy bosom deep 345 

The lark's blithe carol from the cloud 

Seems for the scene too gayly loud. 



XV. 

Speed, Malise, speed! The lake is past, 

Duncraggan's huts appear at last. 

And peep, like moss-grown rocks, half seen, 350 

Half hidden in the copse so green ; 

There mayst thou rest, thy labor done. 

Their lord shall speed the signal on. — 

so ? — 323. hamlets. A.S. ham, home ; let, dimmutive. — 332. cheer. Gr. 
*capa, kara, the head ; Late Lat. cara ; Old Fr. chere, the face; Old Eng. 
chere, appearance, countenance. Shakes., Spenser, Drydeu, etc., use 
c/ieer in the original sense. — 333. swath. A.S. swadu, a row of mown 
grass. — 342. Alas, thou lovely lake! — "Observe," says Ruskin, 
" Scott's habit of looking at nature, neither as dead, nor merely material, 
nor as altered by his own feelings ; but as having an animation and pathos 
of its oion, wholly irrespective of human passion. . . . Instead of making 
Nature anywise subordinate to himself, he makes himself subordinate 
to her — follows her lead simply — does not venture to bring his own 
cares and thoughts into her pure and quiet presence — paints her in her 
simple and universal truth, adding no result of momentary passion or 
fancy; and appears, therefore, at first shallower than other poets, being 
in reality wider and healthier." — 344. bosky. Dan. busk, a bush, shrub ; 
Fr. hois, wood. — See bowm and quotation in note on iv, 387. — 

34T. MS. Seems all too lively and too loud. 

Any better as rewritten ? — 

349. Duncraggan's huts. A hamlet near the Brigg of Turk, between 



94 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

As stoops the hawk upon his prey, 

The henchman shot him down the way. 355 

What woful accents load the gale? 

The funeral yell, the female wail ! 

A gallant hunter's sport is o'er, 

A valiant warrior fights no more. 

Who, in the battle or the chase, 360 

At Roderick's side shall fill his place? — 

Within the hall, where torch's ray 

Supplies the excluded beams of day. 

Lies Duncan on his lowly bier. 

And o'er him streams his widow's tear. 365 

His stripling son stands mournful by. 

His youngest weeps, but knows not why; 

The village maids and matrons round 

The dismal coronach resound. 



XVI. 
CORONACH. 

He is gone on the mountain, 370 

He is lost to the forest, 
Like a summer-dried fountain, 

When our need was the sorest. 

Lochs Achray and Vennachar. — 355. shot him? Shot whom? or what? 
— i, 142; iii, 148, 526.-357. yell! The commentators quote from Gas- 
coigne's De Profundis, — 

" gracious God, to thee I cry and yell ! " 

Grief is more demonstrative in such communities than in more highly 
cultivated society? So Shakespeare indicates {Macbeth, IV, iii, 4-8) — 

"Each new morn 
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows 
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds 
As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out 
Like syllable of dolor." — 

357. MS. 'Tis woman's scr'eam, 'tis childhood 's wail. 

Has the poet improved u^jon this? — 362. Instead of torch's, most editions 
print torches'. Preferable ? — 

369. coronach. Gaelic, co??i7t, with, ranaich, a roaring; ran, to roar, 
shriek. "The Coronach of the Highlanders, like the ululutus of the 
Romans, and the ululoo of the Irish, was a wild expression of lamentation, 
poured forth by the mourners over the body of a departed friend. When 
the words of it were articulate, they expressed the praises of the deceased, 
and the loss the clan would sustain by his death." Scott. Scott gives a 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 95 

The font, reappearing, 

From the rain-drops shall borrow, 375 

But to us comes no cheering. 

To Duncan no morrow ! 

The hand of the reaper 

Takes the ears that are hoary. 
But the voice of the weeper 380 

Wails manhood in glory. 

literal translation, from the Gaelic, of one to which he acknowledges 
indebtedness for ideas incorporated in his text. He says, *' The tune is 
so popular that it has beCome the war-march or ' Gatherino- ' of the clan." 
We quote the second stanza. The reader will recognize in it something 
familiar. 

From the "Coronach on Sir Lauchlan, Chief of Maclean." 

" 'Tis no base weed, — no planted tree, 
Nor a seedling of last autumn ; 
Nor a sapling planted at Beltain ; 
Wide, wide around were spread its lofty branches — 
But the topmost bough is lowly laid I 
Thou hast forsaken us before Sawaine " [i.e. Hallowe'en]. 

See ii, 319, 410. — " The coronach," says Scott, "has for some years been 
superseded at funerals by the use of the bagpipe ; and that also is, like 
many other Highland peculiarities, falling into disuse, unless in remote 
districts." — 

He is gone on the mountain, etc. In this beautiful song the metri- 
cal analysis is very simple: the prevailing foot is the anapest (i.e. two 
unaccented syllables followed by an accented one) . In each verse there 
are properly two anapests. Each line has an extra syllable at the end. 
In any line, an iambus (i.e. an unaccented syllable followed by an accented 
one) may be substituted for the first anapest. Scan thus: i — 

He is gdne on the mountain, ^-^ yj 

He is lost to the fdrest, o \-j 

Like a summer-di-ied fountain, kj \-J 

Where our n^ed was the sdrest, \j \^ 

The font, reappearing. 
From the rain-drops shall borrow ; 

etc., etc. 

Test Mr. Taylor's statement to this effect: "The song is very carefully 
divided. To each of the three things, mountain, forest, fountain, four 
lines are given in the order .3, 1, 2." — 374. The font reappearing, etc. 
Is the order of ideas logical here ? Do you say the font has borrowed, and 
that is why it reappears ? Would the following be better ? 

From the rain reappearing 
The fountain shall borrow. 

1 Taylor, followed by Rolfe, is a good deal puzzled over the metre. They say it 
" seems to be amphibrachic,'''' but " some of the lines appear to be anapestic, but the 
rhythm of these is aiuphibrachic .... amphibi'achic with an anacrusis,'' etc., etc. 



Z. w w^ 

_/ w wZ. 

Z: w wZ 

^ w wZ. 

, / , , , , / 



96 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO HI. 

The autumn winds rushing 

Waft the leaves that are searest; 

But our flower was in flushing, 

When blighting was nearest. 3S5 

Fleet foot on the cor re i, 

Sage counsel in cumber, 
E-ed hand in the foray, 

How sound is thy slumber! 
Like the dew on the mountain, 390 

Like the foam on the river. 
Like the bubble on the fountain, 

Thou art gone, and forever! 



XVII. 

See Stumah, who, the bier beside. 

His master's corpse with wonder eyed, 395 

Poor Stumah ! whom his least halloo 

Could send like lightning o'er the dew, 

Bristles his crest and points his ears, 

As if some stranger step he hears. 

'Tis not a mourner's muffled tread, 400 

Who comes to sorrow o'er the dead, 

— Is rain-drops a better expression thau rain? — 383. searest. A.S. 
searian, to dry up. — 384. flushing = at full, as the tide is at the ' flood ' 
[Taylor]? full bloom [Rolfe, Ginn, etc.]? prime? full vigor? transient 
redness? — In some senses, flush is from Lat.fluere, Gev.fliessen, to flow. 
In others, it comes from Swedish ^o.ssa, to burn furiously, to blaze; Mid. 
English, flushen, to redden. In Hamlet, I, ii, 155, flushing appears to 
denote the redness of tear-filled eyes; in Hamlet, III, iii, 81, flush appears 
to mean in its prime, in full vigor. — The meaning required here would 
seem to be the opposite of sear or blight. — " A flush of good luck is a 
sudden flow of it." Taylor. — 386. correi [pron. kor-rl] — " a hollow in 
the side of a hill, where game usually lies." — Gael, cor, a corner. — 
387. cumber = hinderauce? distress? embarrassment? trouble ? perplex- 
ity? — Lat. cumulus, a heap; Old Fr. combiner, to hinder; Fr. encombre, 
an impediment; Icel. kumra, to growl; Ger. kummer, trouble. — 388. red. 
With blood? — 393. ever. Note the rhymes and rhythm. i 

394. Stumah = ' faithful.' 398. crest. What? — 403. urge, or urges? — 

1 " Mr. Scott is such a master of versification that the most complicated metre does 
not for an instant arrest the progress of his imagination ; its difficulties usually operate 
as a salutary excitement to his attention, and not unfrequently suggest to him new and 
unexpected graces of expression. If a careless rhyme or an ill-constructed phrase 
occasionally escape him amidst the irregular torrent of his stanza, the blemish is often 
imperceptible by \sic\ the hurried eye of the reader." Quarterly Review. 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 97 

But headlong haste or deadly fear 

Urge the precipitate career. 

All stand aghast : — unheeding all, 

The henchman bursts into the hall; 405 

Before the dead man's bier he stood, 

Held forth the Cross besmeared with blood — 

"The muster-place is Lanrick mead; 

Speed forth the signal! clansmen, speed! " 

XVIII. 

Angus, the heir of Duncan's line, 410 

Sprung forth and seized the fatal sign. 

In haste the stripling to his side 

His father's dirk and broadsword tied; 

But when he saw his mother's eye 

Watch him in speechless agony, 415 

Back to her opened arms he flew. 

Pressed on her lips a fond adieu, — 

"Alas! " she sobbed, — "and yet be gone, 

And speed thee forth, like Duncan's son! " 

One look he cast upon the bier, 420 

Dashed from his eye the gathering tear, 

Breathed deep to clear his laboring breast. 

And tossed aloft his bonnet crest. 

Then, like the high-bred colt when, freed, 

First he essays his fire and speed, 425 

He vanished, and o'er moor and moss 

Sj^ed forward with the Fiery Cross. 

Suspended was the widow's tear 

While yet his footsteps she could hear; 

And when she marked the henchman's eye 430 

Wet with unwonted sympathy, 

"Kinsman," she said, "his race is run 

That should have sped thine errand on ; 

410. MS. Angus, the ^rs< of Duncan's Zine, 

Sprun? forth and seized the fatal sign, 
And then upon his kinsman's bier, 
Fell Malise's suspended tear. 
In haste the striplin<r to his side 
His father's targe and falchion tied. 

— 426. moss. A.S. meos ; Icel. most; Swedish, mossa, a moss, swamp, 
bog, soft moorland. — 



98 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

The oak has fallen, — the sapling bough 

Is all Duncraggan's shelter now. 435 

Yet trust I well, his duty done, 

The orphan's God will guard my son. — 

And you, in many a danger true, 

At Duncan^ s hest your blades that drew, 

To arms! and guard that orphan's head! 440 

Let babes and women wail the dead." 

Then weapon-clang and martial call 

Resounded through the funeral hall, 

While from the walls the attendant band 

Snatched sword and targe with hurried hand; 445 

And short and flitting energy 

Glanced from the mourner's sunken eye, 

As if the sounds to warrior dear 

Might rouse her Duncan from his bier. 

But faded soon that borrowed force ; 450 

Grief claimed his right, and tears their course. 



XIX. 

Benledi saw the Cross of Fire, 

It glanced like lightning up Strath-Ire ; 

O'er dale and hill the summons flew, 

Nor rest nor pause young Angus knew ; 455 

The tear that gathered in his eye 

He left the mountain-breeze to dry ; 



439. hest. A.S. hatan; Ger. heissen, to command. Used in poetry- 
only? — 445. targe. See i, 546; v, 380. — The sword and targe were the 
Highlander's usual weapons. — 

452. Benledi saw, etc. Trace on the map the course of the Fiery 
Cross. 1 Scott tells us that the district, which, in the exercise of his poetical 
privilege, he has subjected to the authority of his imaginary chieftain, 
was, at tlie period of his romance, ' really occupied by a clan who claimed 
a descent from Alpine, — a clan the most unfortunate and most persecuted, 
but neither the least distinguished, least powerful, nor least brave of the 
tribes of the Gael.' — 453. Strath-Ire. This strath connects Lochs Voil 
and Lubnaig. — 

1 Scott says, "The first stage of the Fiery Cross is to Duncraggan. . . . Thence it 
passed towards Callander, and then ... up the pass of Leny ... to Norman at the 
Chapel of St. Bride . . . then . . . along the lake of Lubnaig, and through the various 
glens in the district of Balquidder, including . . . Glenfiulas and Strath-Gartney." 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 99 

Until, where Teith's young waters roll 

Betwixt him and a wooded knoll 

That graced the sable strath with green, 460 

The chapel of Saint Bride was seen. 

Swoln was the stream, remote the bridge, 

But Angus paused not on the edge; 

Though the dark waves danced dizzily. 

Though reeled his sympathetic eye, 465 

He dashed amid the torrent's roar; 

His right hand high the crosslet bore, 

His left the pole-axe grasped, to guide 

And stay his footing in the tide : 

He stumbled twice, — the foam splashed high, 470 

With hoarser swell the stream raced by ; 

And had he fallen, — forever there 

Farewell Duncraggan's orphan heir! 

But still, as if in parting life, 

Firmer he grasped the Cross of strife, 475 

Until the opposing bank he gained. 

And up the chapel pathway strained. 



XX. 

A blithesome rout that morning-tide 

Had sought the chapel of Saint Bride. 

Her troth Tombea's Mary gave 480 

To Norman, heir of Armandave, 

And, issuing from the Gothic arch. 

The bridal now resumed their march. • 

In rude but glad procession came 

Bonneted sire and coif-clad dame; 485 

458. MS. And where a steep and wooded knoll 

Graced the dark Strath with emerald g^-een. — 

Improved? — 461. chapel of Saint Bride. Half a mile from the south- 
ern end of Lubnaig, on the bank of the Leny, one of " Teith's young 
waters." Its churchyard is there, but there are few remains of the chapel. 
— Bride is Bridget ? — 465. Though reeled, etc. Explain. — So in Shakes., 
"Your mind is tossing on the ocean," Mer. of Ven., I, i. — 

478. morning- tide. From a base da, to divide, come A.S. tid, Ger. 
zeit, and Eng. time. See Whitsuntide, eventide, springtide. — In Spenser 
repeatedly, tide is used for time. In Shakes. King John, III, i, 86, tides = 
times or seasons. See vi, 63. — 483. bridal = bridal pair? party? — 
485. coif-clad = wearing a matron's cap, hood, or head-dress? — Lat. 
cztpa, a tub!; Late Lat. cofca, a cap; Fr. coiffe. See i, 363; iii, 114. — 



100 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

And plaided youth, with jest and jeer, 

Which snooded maiden would not hear; 

And children, that, unwitting why, 

Lent the gay shout their shrilly cry; 

And minstrels, that in measures vied 490 

Before the yoang and bonny bride,. 

Whose downcast eye and cheek disclose 

The tear and blush of morning rose. 

With virgin step and bashful hand 

She held the kerchief's snowy band. 495 

The gallant bridegroom by her side 

Beheld his prize with victor's pride, 

And the glad mother in her ear 

Was closely whispering word of cheer. 



XXI. 

Who meets them at the churchyard gate? 500 

The messenger of fear and fate ! 

Haste in his hurried accent lies, 

And grief is swimming in his eyes. 

All dripping from the recent flood. 

Panting and travel-soiled he stood, 505 

The fatal sign of fire and sword 

Held forth, and spoke the appointed word — 

"The muster-place is Lanrick mead; 

Speed forth the signal ! Norman, speed ! " 

And must he change so soon the hand 510 

Just linked to his by holy band 

For the fell Cross of blood and brand? 

And must the day so blithe that rose, 

And promised rapture in the close, 

Before its setting hour, divide 515 

The bridegroom from the plighted bride? 



487. snooded. i, 363.-488. unwitting. Wit is not used as a verb 
except in the infinitive. To ivit = to know. — 495. kerchief = cwrc/i, 
courche, a square of linen worn by women as a covering for the head. 
Fr. courvir, to cover; chief, chef, the head. — 

508. muster-place. The 1st ed. has mustering. — 

510. MS. And must he then exchange the hand. 

Improved at all ? — 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 101 

O fatal doom ! — it must ! it must ! 

Clan-Alpine's cause, her Chieftain's trust, 

Her summons dread, brook no delay ; 

Stretch to the race, — away! away! 520 



XXII. 

Yet slow he laid his plaid aside. 

And lingering e3^ed his lovely bride. 

Until he saw the starting tear 

Speak woe he might not stop to cheer; 

Then, trusting not a second look, 525 

In haste he sped him up the brook, 

Nor backward glanced till on the heath 

Where Lubnaig's lake supplies the Teith. — 

What in the racer's bosom stirred? 

The sickening pang of hope deferred, 530 

And memory with a torturing train 

Of all his morning visions vain. 

Mingled with love's impatience, came 

The manly thirst for martial fame; 

The stormy joy of mountaineers 535 

Ere yet they rush upon the spears ; 

And zeal for Clan and Chieftain burning, 

And hope, from well-fought field returning. 

With war's red honors on his crest. 

To clasp his Mary to his breast. 540 

Stung by such thoughts, o'er bank and brae. 

Like fire from flint he glanced away, 

While high resolve and feeling strong 

Burst into voluntary song. 

519. brook, i, 566; iii, 77.— 

528. Lubnaig's lake. At the N.E. base of Benledi, the view of which 
from tlie lake is grand. The lake is 5 miles N.N.W. of Callander, about 4 
miles long and 1 broad, shut in by precipitous hills and cliffs. Lubnaig 
means ' crooked lake,' or ' lake of small bends.' — 530. sickening pang, 
etc. " Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." Proverbs, xiii, 12. So in 
Scott's The Lo)'cl of the Isles, vi, 1. — 

531. MS. And memory brought the torturing train 
Of all his morning visions vain ; 
But mingled with impatience came 
The manly love of martial fame. 

Improved upon? — 541. brae. See on ii, 624. — 



102 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 



XXIII. 

SONG. 

The heath this night must be my bed, 645 

The bracken curtain for my head, 
My lullaby the warder's tread, 

Far, far, from love and thee, Mary; 
To-morrow eve, more stilly laid. 
My couch may be my bloody plaid, 550 

My vesper song thy wail, sweet maid! 

It will not waken me, Mary ! 

I may not, dare not, fancy now 

The grief that clouds thy lovely browj 

I dare not think upon thy vow, 555 

And all it promised me, Mary. 
No fond regret must Norman know; 
When bursts Clan-Alpine on the foe, 
His heart must be like bended bow, 

His foot like arrow free, Mary. 560 

A time will come with feeling fraught, 
For, if I fall in battle fought, 
Thy hapless lover's dying thought 

Shall be a thought on thee, Mary. 
And if returned from conquered foes, 565 

How blithely will the evening close. 
How sweet the linnet sing repose. 

To my young bride and me, Mary ! 



545. heath, i, 53, 106, 667.-546. bracken. A.S. bracce ; Swed. 
6raA:en, a fern, a brake. See i, 129. — 547. warder's. See i, 38. — 

553. MS. I may not, dare not, image now. 

Worth change ? — 

561. MS. A time will come /or love and faith. 

For, should thy bridegroom yield his breath, 
'Twill cheer him in the hour of death 
The boasted right to thee, Mary. 

Point out the improvements. — 565. "This sentence is ungrammatical." 
Taylor. Is it so ? 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 103 



XXIV. 

Not faster o'er thy heathery brase, 

Balquidder, speeds the midnight blaze, 570 

Rushing in conflagration strong 

Thy deep ravines and dells along, 

Wrapping thy cliffs in purple glow 

And reddening the dark lakes below; 

Nor faster speeds it, nor so far, 575 

As o'er thy heaths the voice of war. 

The signal roused to martial coil 

The sullen margin of Loch Voil; 

Waked still Loch Doine, and to the source 

Alarmed, Balvaig, thy swampy course; 580 

Thence southward turned its rapid road 

Adown Strath-G-artney's valley broad, 

Till rose in arms each man might claim 

A portion in Clan-Alpine's name. 

From the gray sire, whose trembling hand 585 

Could hardly buckle on his brand, 

To the raw boy, whose shaft and bow 

Were yet scarce terror to the crow. 

Each valley, each sequestered glen. 

Mustered its little horde of men, 590 

That met as torrents from the height 

In Highland dales their streams unite. 



569. braes here = hill slopes ? Line 541; ii, 624. — 570. Balquidder. 
A village 34 miles W. of Perth. It is near the east end of Loch Voil. 
Rob Roy was buried here, and this region was famous for his exj^loits. 
The 'Braes' are on the north of the lake, and extend far to the west. 
See 576"-580, and map. — midnight blaze. "The heath on the Scottish 
moorlands is often set fire to, that the sheep may have the advantage of 
the young herbage produced. . . . This custom . . . i)roduces occasion- 
ally the most beautiful nocturnal appearances, similar almost to the dis- 
charge of a volcano." Scott. — 575. "The eager fidelity witli which this 
fatal signal is hurried on and obeyed, is represented with great spirit and 
felicity." Jeffrey. — 577. coil = turmoil ? — So in Shakespeare. — Gaelic 
goill, struggle, boiling, fume, battle, rage, fury. — 579. Loch Doine. 
A little lake closely connected with Loch Voil, if not a part of it. " The 
epithets sullen a.nd still are i^eculiarly appropriate to this valley." Says 
Black, " Few places in Scotland have such an air of solitude and remote- 
ness from the haunts of men." — 580. Balvaig. River flowing from 
Lochs Voil and Doine into Lubnaig. — 582. Strath-Gartney. Valley 
extending along the north side of Loch Katrine. — 583. Ellipsis? See i, 



104 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

Still gathering, as they pour along, 

A voice more loud, a tide more strong, 

Till at the rendezvous they stood 595 

By hundreds prompt for blows and blood, 

Each trained to arms since life began, 

Owning no tie but to his clan, 

No oath but by his chieftain's hand, 

No law but Roderick Dhu's command. 600 



XXV. 

That summer morn had Roderick Dhu 

Survej^ed tlie skirts of Benvenue, 

And sent his scouts o'er hill and heath, 

To view the frontiers of Menteith. 

All backward came with news of truce ; 605 

Still lay each martial Graeme and Bruce, 

In Rednock courts no horsemen wait, 

No banner waved on Cardross gate. 

On Duchray's towers no beacon shone. 

Nor scared the herons from Loch Con ; 610 

All seemed at peace. — Now wot ye why 

The Chieftain w4th such anxious eye, 

Ere to the muster he repair. 

This western frontier scanned with care? — 

In Benvenue's most darksome cleft, 615 

A fair though cruel pledge was left; 

For Douglas, to his promise true. 

That morning from the isle withdrew, 

And in a deep sequestered dell 

Had sought a low and lonely cell. 620 

528. — 595. rendezvous. Fr. re>?r?ez, render, restore ; ?'o?/s, you ; rendez- 
vous, render yourselves; repair to. — 599. by his chieftain's hand. 
" The deep and implicit respect paid by the Highland clansmen to their 
chief rendered this both a common and a solemn oath. In other respects 
they were like most savage nations, capricious in their ideas concerning 
the obligatory power of oaths." Scott. 

604. Menteith. See i, 89.— 607-610. Kednock, Cardross, and Duchray 
were castles : of Rednock the ruins are about 2 miles north of Loch Men- 
teith on the road to Callander; Cardross, where Robert Bruce died, was 
on the Clyde below Dumbarton ; Duchray is a mile S. of Loch Ard. Loch 
Con, ' the lake of dogs,' is a little lake about 3 miles N.W. of Loch Ard, 
into which its waters llow, and 2 miles S. of Loch Katrine. See map. — 
(511. wot ye. See i, 5.)(). — 622. Coir-nan-Uriskin. See on line 253. — 



CAXTO III.] THE GATHERING. 105 

By many a bard in Celtic tongue 
Has Coir-nan-Uriskin been sung ; 
A softer name the Saxons gave, 
And called the grot the Goblin Cave. 

XXVI. 

It "was a wild and strange retreat 625 

As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet. 

The dell, upon the mountain's crest, 

Yawned like a gash on warrior's breast; 

Its trench had stayed full many a rock 

Hurled by primeval earthquake shock 630 

From Benvenue's gray summit wild; 

And here, in random ruin piled, 

They frowned incumbent o'er the spot, 

And formed the rugged sylvan grot. 

The oak and birch with mingled shade 635 

At noontide there a twilight made, 

Unless when short and sudden shone 

Some straggling beam on cliff or stone. 

With such a glimpse as prophet's eye 

Gains on thy depth. Futurity. " 640 

No murmur waked the solemn still. 

Save tinkling of a fountain rill ; 

But when the Avind chafed with the lake, 

A sullen sound would upward break 

With dashing hollow voice, that spoke 645 

The incessant war of wave and rock.. 

Suspended cliffs with hideous sway 

Seemed nodding o'er the cavern gray. 

From such a den the wolf had sprung; 

In such the wild-cat leaves her young; 650 

Yet Douglas and his daughter fair 

Sought for a space their safety there. 

Gray Superstition's whisper dread 

Debarred the spot to vulgar tread; 

024. Goblin Cave. " A deep circular amphitheatre of at least 600 yards 
iu its upper diameter, hemmed in all round by steep and towering rocks." 
Dr. Graham. — See lines 253, 255. 

630. primeval. Lat. priimis, first, aevian, age. — 639. See on line 28; 
also i, 219. — 641. still = calm? silence. — Rare and poetic use of the 



106 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

For there, she said, did fays resort, 655 

And satyrs hold their sylvan court. 
By moonlight tread their mystic maze, 
And blast the rash beholder's gaze. 



XXVII. 

Now eve, with western shadows long. 

Floated on Katrine bright and strong, 660 

When Roderick with a chosen few 

Repassed the heights of Benvenue. 

Above the Goblin Cave they go. 

Through the wild pass of Beal-nam-bo; 

The prompt retainers speed before 665 

To launch the shallop from the shore, 

For 'cross Loch Katrine lies his way 

To view the passes of Achray, 

And place his clansmen in array. 

Yet lags the Chief in musing mind, 670 

Unwonted sight, his men behind. 

A single page, to bear his sword, 

Alone attended on his lord; 

The rest their way through thickets break, 

And soon await him by the lake. 675 

It was a fair and gallant sight. 

To view them from the neighboring height, 

By the low-levelled sunbeam's light! 

For strength and stature, from the clan 

Each warrior was a chosen man, 680 

As even afar might well be seen 

By their proud step and martial mien. 

Their feathers dance, their tartans float. 

Their targets gleam, as by the boat 

word? — 656. satyrs. See on line 253. "The UrisJc, ov Highland Satyr. 
(Pron. sa-tj^r or sat-ur.) Satyrs were wood deities, much like men in 
form; but their feet and legs were like those of goats; they had short 
horns, and their whole bodies were covered with hair. — 

6ij4. Beal-nam-bo, or Bealach-nam-ho . Line 255. For the metre, 
i, 73. — 6G7. 'cross meaning across is ' archaic or colloquial ' ? Line 750. 
— 672. page. Fr. page, a boy-servant in attendance upon some high 
personage. Scott tells us that "a Highland Chief, being as absolute in 
his personal authority as any prince, had a corresponding number of 
ofiicers attached to his person." — 



I 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 107 

A wild and warlike group they stand, 685 

That well became such mountain-strand. 



XXVIII. 

Their Chief with step reluctant still 

Was lingering on the craggy hill, 

Hard by where turned apart the road 

To Douglas's obscure abode. 690 

It was but with that dawning morn 

That Roderick Dhu had proudly sworn 

To drown his love in war's wild roar, 

Nor think of Ellen Douglas more ; 

But he who stems a stream with sand, 695 

And fetters flame with flaxen band, 

Has yet a harder task to prove, — 

By firm resolve to conquer love ! 

Eve finds the Chief, like restless ghost, 

Still hovering near his treasure lost; 700 

For though his haughty heart deny 

A parting meeting to his eye. 

Still fondly strains his anxious ear 

The accents of her voice to hear. 

And inly did he curse the breeze 705 

That waked to sound the rustling trees. 

But hark! what mingles in the strain? 

It is the harp of Allan-bane, 

That wakes its measure slow and high. 

Attuned to sacred minstrelsy. 710 

What melting voice attends the strings? 

^Tis Ellen, or an angel, sings ! 



693. MS. To drown his grief in war's wild roar, 
Nor think of love and Ellen more. 

Has Scott improved upon it? — 695. On this line Taylor comments, to 
show that the letters st are frequently used to express fear aud amaze- 
ment. Verify it. — 703. strains, etc. — Good? — 707. strain again! — 



108 THE LADY OF THK LAKE. [cANTO III. 



XXIX. 
HYMN TO THE VIRGIN. 

Ave Maria! maiden mild! 

Listen to a maiden's prayer! 
Thou canst hear though from the wild, 715 

Thou canst save amid despair. 
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care, 

Though banished, outcast, and reviled — 
Maiden! hear a maiden's prayer; 

Mother, hear a suppliant child ! 720 

Ave Maria ! 

Ave Maria, ! undefiled ! 

The flinty couch we now must share 
Shall seem with down of eider piled, 

If thy protection hover there. 
The murky cavern's heavy air 725 

Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled ; 
Then, Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer, 

Mother, list a suppliant child! 

Ave Maria! 

Ave Maria! stainless styled! 

Foul demons of the earth and air, 730 

From this their wonted haunt exiled, 

Shall flee before thy presence fair. 
We bow us to our lot of care. 

Beneath thy guidance reconciled: 
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer, 735 

And for a father hear a child! 

Ave Maria! 

713. Ave Maria = Hail, Mary ! — (Pron., nearly, ah-vay Mah-ree-ah.) 
— These are the first words of the familiar hymn to the Virgin Mary. — 
Note the ingenious and remarkahle arrangement and recurrence of its 
rhymes. 

722. MS. The flinty couch my sire must share. 

Why the change? — 723. eider (pron. i-der). Icel. aedr, a kind of sea 
duck in the far north, an eider duck. It lines its nest with the finest 
down from its own body. — 

T25. MS. The murk}' grotto's noxious air. 

Bettered? — 733. bow us. i, U2; iii, 148, 743, 749. — 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 109 



XXX. 

Died on the harp the closing hymn, — 

Unmoved in attitude and limb, 

As listening still, Clan-Alpine's lord 

Stood leaning on his heavy sword, 740 

Until the page with humble sign 

Twice pointed to the sun's decline. 

Then while his plaid he round him cast, 

"It is the last time — 'tis the last," 

He muttered thrice, — "the last time e'er 745 

That angel-voice shall Roderick hear ! " 

It was a goading thought, — his stride 

Hied hastier down the mountain-side; 

Sullen he flung him in the boat. 

An instant 'cross the lake it shot. 750 

They landed in that silvery bay, 

And eastward held their hasty way, 

Till, with the latest beams of light. 

The band arrived on Lanrick height. 

Where mustered in the vale below 755 

Clan-Alpine's men in martial show. 



XXXI. 

A various scene the clansmen made : 

Some sat, some stood, some slowly strayed; 

But most, with mantles folded round. 

Were couched to rest upon the ground, 760 

Scarce to be known by curious eye 

From the deep heather where they lie. 

So well was matched the tartan screen 

With heath-bell dark and brackens green; 

Unless where, here and there, a blade 765 

Or lance's point a glimmer made. 

Like glow-worm twinkling through the shade. 

754. Lanrick height. Line 286. — 

755. MS. Where broad extending far below. 

Mustered Clan-Alpine's martial show. 



110 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO III. 

But when, advancing tlirough the gloom, 

They saw the Chieftain's eagle plume, 

Their shout of welcome, shrill and wide, 770 

Shook the steep mountain's steady side. 

Thrice it arose, and lake and fell 

Three times returned the martial yell ; 

It died upon Bochastle's plain. 

And Silence claimed her evening reign. 775 



Which is tlie better? why? — 772. fell. See ii, 801. — 773. Line 357.— 
774. Bochastle's plain. See i, 106; v, 301. — 



CANTO FOUETH. 

THE PROPHECY. 
I. 

''The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new, 

And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears ; 
The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew, 

And love is loveliest Avhen embalmed in tears. 
O wilding rose, whom fancy thus endears, 

I bid your blossoms in my bonnet wave. 
Emblem of hope and love through future years ! " 

Thus spoke young Norman, heir of Armandave, 
What time the sun arose on Vennachar's broad wave. 



II. 

Such fond conceit, half said, half sung, lo 

Love prompted to the bridegroom's tongue. 

All while he stripped the wild-rose spray, 

His axe and bow beside him lay. 

For on a pass 'twixt lake and wood 

A wakeful sentinel he stood. 15 

Hark ! — on the rock a footstep rung. 

And instant to his arms he sprung! 

"Stand, orthoudiest! — What! Malise? — soon 

Art thou returned from Braes of Doune. 

Canto IV. 2, And hope is brightest. The MS. has 

" And rapture dearest when obscured hy fears." 

Better truth, imagery, sentiment, as rewritten? — from combines the 
idea of 'starting from' with that of 'change'? — 5. "wilding = wild ? 
not domesticated or cultivated? This word is used by Spenser, Tenny- 
son, Bryant, etc. — 9. what time. See on ii, 307; iii, 15. — 

12. spray. A.S. spraedan, to spread; Dan. sprag, a sprig, twig, small 
branch. — 19. Braes of Doune. The rolling country, mostly between 
Callander and Doune, north of the Teith. See map. Doune is a village 
7 miles N.W. of Stirling on the Teith. Its castle, built in the 14th century, 

HI 



112 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

By thy keen step and glance I know, 20 

Thou bring'st us tidings of the foe." — 

For while the Fiery Cross hied on, 

On distant scout had Malise gone. — 

*' Where sleeps the Chief? " the henchman said. 

" Apart, in yonder misty glade ; 25 

To his lone couch I'll be your guide." — 

Then called a slumberer % his side, 

And stirred him with his slackened bow, — 

" Up, up, Glentarkin ! rouse thee, ho ! 

We seek the Chieftain; on the track 30 

Keep eagle watch till I come back." 



III. 

Together up the pass they sped : 

"What of the foeman?" Norman said. — 

" Varying reports from far and near ; 

This certain, — that a band of war 35 

Has for two days been ready boune 

At prompt command to march from Doune ; 

King James the while, with princely powers, 

Holds revelry in Stirling towers. 

Soon will this dark and gathering cloud 40 

Speak on our glens in thunder loud. 

Inured to bide such bitter bout, 

The warrior's plaid may bear it out; 

But, Norman, how wilt thou provide 

A shelter for thy bonny bride? " — 45 

" What ! know ye not that Roderick's care 

To the lone isle hath caused repair 

is a majestic specimen of feudal grandeur. — 29. Glentarkin. The man 
is named from the place N. of Loch Earn ? 

36. boune = ready, prepared. Scotch, from Icel. hiia, to make ready ; 
bitinn, prepared. — Line 157; v, 466; vi, 396. — 37. Doune. See on line 
19. — 42. bide = await with trust; endure? — A.S. bidan, to await. — In 
Shakes. (Lear, III, iv, 29, 30) we read, 

" Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, 
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm." 

— bout = conflict, contest [Ginn]? turn (of fortune) [Rolf e] ? — Danish 
bugt, a bend, turn; Icel. bugda, a bend, a serpent's coil. Skeat. — 
43. bear it out = endure it? — " A good instance of poetic terseness," — 
47. Poetic ellipsis ? — 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. lli;. 

Each maid and matron of the clan, 

And every child and aged man 

Unfit for arms; and given his charge 50 

Nor skiffc' nor shallop, boat nor barge, 

Upon these lakes shall float at large, 

But all beside the islet moor, 

That such dear pledge may rest secure?" — 

IV. 

"'Tis well advised, — the Chieftain's plan 55 

Bespeaks the father of his clan. 

But wherefore sleeps Sir Roderick Dhu 

Apart from all his followers true?" 

" It is because last evening-tide 

Brian an augury hath tried, 60 

Of that dread kind which must not be 

Unless in dread extremity. 

The Taghairm called ; by which, afar. 

Our sires foresaw the events of war. 

Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew," — 65 

MALISE. 

" Ah ! well the gallant brute I knew ! 

The choicest of the prey we had 

When swept our merrymen Gallangad. 

His hide was snoAV, his horns were dark, 

His red eye glowed like fiery spark; 70 

55, well advised = well considered? well planned? — Old Fr. adviser, 
to mark, heed, consider of. Skeat. — The M8. has, 

'Tis well advised — a prudent plan, 
Worthy the father of his dan. 

Improved? — 59. evening-tide. See on iii, 478. — 63. Taghairm. Cel- 
tic targalr, to foretell. — A " superstitious mode of inquiring into futurity. 
A person was wrapped up in the skin of a newly-slain bullock, and de- 
posited . . . where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects 
of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question pro- 
posed ; and whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagiuation 
passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits, who haunt these 
desolate recesses." Scott. — 68. Gallangad. "We do not find this 
name elsewhere." Rolfe. " Apparently part of the Lennox district, near 
Strath Endrick." Taylor.— This story'^oi the bull is taken almost liter- 
ally from one in an account of " the nierry doings of the good old time," 
when the narrator, *au old Highland Kevn or Ketterau,' was 'follower 



114 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

So fierce, so tameless, and so fleet. 

Sore did lie cumber our retreat, 

And kept our stoutest kerns in awe, 

Even at the pass of Beal 'maha. 

But steep and flinty was the road, 75 

And sharp the hurrying pikeman's goad, 

And when we came to Dennan's Eow 

A child might scathless stroke his brow." 



V. 

NORMAN. 

" That bull was slain ; his reeking hide 

They stretched the cataract beside, 80 

Whose waters their wild tumult toss 

Adown the black and craggy boss 

Of that huge cliff whose ample verge 

Tradition calls the Hero's Targe. 

Couched on a shelf beneath its brink, 85 

Close where the thundering torrents sink, 

Rocking beneath their headlong sway. 

And drizzled by the ceaseless spray. 

Midst groan of rock and roar of stream. 

The wizard waits prophetic dream. 90 

of Rob Roy MacGregor.' — 73. kerns = light-armed foot soldiers, armed 
with bows, arrows, darts, daggers, and large knives, among the Gaels and 
Irish? — So in Shakespeare, Spenser, and Drayton. — See iv, 393; v, 349. 
— 74. Beal 'malia = ' the pass of the plain,' east of the southern end of 
Loch Lomond, opposite Inch-Cailliach. See on iii, 191. — Through this pass 
raids from the Highlands were often made into the Lowlands. — 77. Den- 
nan's Row = Rowardennan, on Loch Lomond. Here tourists start to 
ascend Ben Lomond. See map. — 

82. boss = knob? protuberance? central projection of a shield? — 
French basse, a hump; Ital. bozza, a swelling. — 83. verge. Note the 
rhyme. See v, 219, 812, 813. E was often sounded as a ; as in cle7'k, 
Derby, sergeant, etc. — Shakes, repeatedly uses verge in the sense of 
circle. — Lat. virga, a rod ; Fr. verge, an officer's wand ; limit of authority ; 
edge. — 

84. Hero's Targe. " There is a rock so named in the Forest of 
Glenfinlas, by which a tumultuary cataract takes its course. This wild 
place is said, in former times, to have afforded refuge to an outlaw, who 
was supplied with provisions by a woman, who lowered them down from 
the brink of the precipice above. His water he procured for himself by 
letting down a flagon, tied to a string, into the black pool beneath." 
Scott. — 85. shelf. Some editions read .s/ie/ue, which Taylor defines as a 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 115 

Nor distant rests the Chief ; — but hush ! 

See, gliding slow through mist and bush, 

The hermit gains yon rock, and stands 

To gaze upon our slumbering bands ! 

Seems he not, Malise, like a ghost, 95 

That hovers o'er a slaughtered host? 

Or raven on the blasted oak. 

That, watching while the deer is broke. 

His morsel claims with sullen croak? " 



MALISE. 

"Peace! peace! to other than to me loo 

Thy words were evil augury; 

But still I hold Sir Roderick's blade 

Clan-Alpine's omen and her aid. 

Not aught that, gleaned from heaven or hell, 

Yon fiend-begotten Monk can tell. 105 

The Chieftain joins him, see — and now 

Together they descend the brow." 



VI. 

And, as they came, with Alpine's Lord 

The Hermit Monk held solemn word : — 

" Roderick ! it is a fearful strife, no 

Eor man endowed with mortal life. 

Whose shroud of sentient clay can still 

Feel feverish pang and fainting chill, 



slanting part of the rock. — 01, 92. Rhyme? — 98. broke = the 'cutting 
up, or, as it was technically called, breaking, the slaughtered stag.' Scott 
tells with what formality, and even solemnity, the animal was divided 
and distributed. The forester had his allotted portion ; the hounds, theirs ; 
the very birds, theirs also. He quotes Turberville — "There is a little 
gristle, which is upon the spoone of the brisket, which we call the raven's 
bone ; and I have seen in some places a raven so wont and accustomed to 
it, that she would never fail to croak and cry for it all the time you were 
in breaking up of the deer, and would not depart till she had it." — 
102. hold = possess ? believe (to be)? — 104. aught = anything (to be 
omen, etc.) ? — See ii, 529. — 105. See iii, 134 and context. — 

110. Roderick, etc. — Something too much of this Taghairm business ? 
112. seutient = having sensation and percej)tion ? conscious ? — Lat. seii- 



116 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

Whose eye can stare in stony trance, 

Whose hair can rouse like warrior's lance, — 115 

'Tis hard for such to view, unfurled, 

The curtain of the future world. 

Yet, witness every quaking limb. 

My sunken pulse, mine eyeballs dim. 

My soul with harrowing anguish torn ! 120 

This for my Chieftain have I borne ! — 

The shapes that sought my fearful couch 

A human tongue may ne'er avouch; 

No mortal man — save he, who, bred 

Between the living and the dead, 125 

Is gifted beyond nature's law — 

Had e'er survived to say he saw. 

At length the fateful answer came 

In characters of living flame ! 

Not spoke in word, nor blazed in scroll, 130 

But borne and branded on my soul : — 

Which spills the foremost foeman's life, 

That party conquers in the strife." 



VII. 

" Thanks, Brian, for thy zeal and care ! 

Good is thine augury, and fair. 135 

tire, to perceive by the senses. — shroud. See ii, 254. — 115. rouse. So 
Shakespeare, — 

"My fell of hair 
Would, at a dismal treatise, rouse and stir, 
As life were in't." — Macbeth, V, v, 13-15. — 

Is this idea of the hair standing on end a mere poetical fancy ? — See 
Vergil's uEneid, ii, 774. — 124. save he = except that he (might) ? — 
Should it be, save hhn? — The best writers, Shakes., Milton, Macaulay, 
etc., use the nominative after save. — 128. fateful. Some editions have 
fatal. Preference? — 130. blazed. — " Began to hlaze abroad the matter," 
Mark, i, 45. — Icel. hldsa, to blow, blow a trumpet, sound an alarm. — 

132. MS. Which /oremosif spills a foeman's life. 

Note the different meaning. Which is the more appropriate, viewed in 
the light of the final issue? Which accords best with the interpretation 
given by Fitz-James? by Roderick? — "Though this be in the text 
described as a response of the Taghairm, or Oracle of the Hide, it was of 
itself an augury frequently attended to. The fate of the battle was often 
anticipated, in the imagination of the combatants, by observing which 
party first shed blood." Scott. — See, in the Class. Diet., the stories of 
Codrus and the three Decii. Difference ? — 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 117 

Clan- Alpine ne'er in battle stood 

But first our broadswords tasted blood. 

A surer victim still I know, 

Self -offered to the auspicious blow : 

A spy has sought my land this morn, — 140 

No eve shall witness his return! 

My followers guard each pass's mouth, 

To east, to westward, and to south; 

Red Murdoch, bribed to be his guide, 

Has charge to lead his steps aside, 145 

Till in deep path or dingle brown 

He light on those shall bring him down. — 

But see, who comes his news to show! 

Malise! what tidings of the foe?" 



VIII. 

"At Doune, o'er many a spear and glaive 150 

Two Barons proud their banners wave. 

I saw the Moray's silver star. 

And marked the sable pale of Mar." 

"By Alpine's soul, high tidings those! 

I love to hear of worthy foes. 155 

When move they on?" "To-morrow's noon 

Will see them here for battle boune." 



140. a spy. Had Fitz- James returned in the morning of the fourth 
day ? — 144. Red. AVhy so called ? 

MS. The clansman vainly deemed his guide. 

Happy change ? — 147. Ellipsis ? — See i, 528. 

MS. He light on those shall stab him down. 

Any better as changed? — 

150. glaive. See line 274; v, 253. Fr. glaive; Lat. gladius. Some- 
times it appears to mean a broadsword. — 153. pale = in Heraldry a 
broad, perpendicular stripe in an escutcheon, occupying one-third of the 
width, and equally distant from the two edges ? Moray's banner bore a 
silver star ; Mar's, a black band. See vi, 392, 393. — 155. See the famous 
couplet, V, 238, 239. — 

156. MS. When move they on ? ] ToScW ° [ at noon 
'Tis said will see them march ifrom Doune. 



To-morrow then -j ^gg ^ [ meeting stern. 



118 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

" Then shall it see a meeting stern ! 

But, for the place, — say, couldst thou learn 

Nought of the friendly clans of Earn? 160 

Strengthened by them, we well might bide 

The battle on Benledi's side. 

Thou couldst not? — well! Clan- Alpine's men 

Shall man the Trosachs' shaggy glen ; 

Within Loch Katrine's gorge we'll fight, 165 

All in our maids' and matrons' sight, 

Each for his hearth and household fire, 

Eather for child, and son for sire. 

Lover for maid beloved ! — But why — 

Is it the breeze affects mine eye? 170 

Or dost thou come, ill-omened tear! 

A messenger of doubt or fear? 

No! sooner may the Saxon lance 

Unfix Benledi from his stance 

Than doubt or terror can pierce through 175 

The unyielding heart of Roderick Dhu! 

'Tis stubborn as his trusty targe. 

Each to his post! — all know their charge." 

The pibroch sounds, the bands advance. 

The broadswords gleam, the banners dance, 180 

Obedient to the Chieftain's glance. — 

I turn me from the martial roar 

And seek Coir-Uriskin once more. 



IX. 

Where is the Douglas? — he is gone; 

And Ellen sits on the gray stone 185 

East by the cave and makes her moan. 

While vainly Allan's words of cheer 

Are poured on her unheeding ear. 



— 157. boune. See line 36. — 160. Earn = the region about Locli Earn 
(24 miles W. of Perth) and the river Earn flowing east from the lake into 
the Tay. See map. — 164. shaggy. Appropriateness of the epithet ? See 
i, 145. — 174. stance = station ? position? site? foundation? — Scotch 
word, fr. Lat. stare, to stand ; Ital. stanza, station, base, room, stop, stanza. — 

177. MS. 'Tis stubborn as his Highland targe. 

Better? — 179. pibroch. See i, 638.— 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 119 

" He will return — dear lady, trust ! — 

With joy return ; — he will — he must. 190 

Well was it time to seek afar 

Some refuge from impending war, 

When e'en Clan-Alpine's rugged swarm 

Are cowed by the approaching storm. 

I saw their boats with many a light 195 

Floating the livelong yesternight, 

Shifting like flashes darted forth 

By the red streamers of the north; 

I marked at morn how close they ride 

Thick moored by the lone islet's side, 200 

Like wild ducks couching in the fen 

When stoops the hawk upon the glen. 

Since this rude race dare not abide 

The peril on the mainland side, 

Shall not thy noble father's care 205 

Some safe retreat for thee prepare?" 

X. 

ELLEN. 

"No, Allan, no! Pretext so kind 
My wakeful terrors could not blind. 

197. flashes. So in The Lay of the Last Minstrel, ii, 86, 

" And red and bright the streamers light 
Were dancing in the glowing north. 



He knew by the streamers that shot so bright 
That spirits were riding the northern light." 



So Burns, in Tarn O'Shanter, characterizes pleasures, — 

"Or like the borealis race. 
That flit ere you can point their place." 

Scott's MS. reads as follows : — 

Thick as the Hashes darted forth 
By morrice-dancers of the north ; 

And saxo at morn their] ^Sti^fl^' 
Close moored by the lone islefs side. 
Since this rude race dare not abide 
Upon their native mountain side, 
^Tisfit that Donglas shoidd provide 
For his dear child some safe abode. 
And soon he comes to point the road. 

Are the last five quoted lines prosy ? 



120 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

When in sucli tender tone, yet grave, 

Douglas a parting blessing gave, 210 

The tear that glistened in his eye 

Drowned not his purpose fixed and high. 

My soul, though feminine and weak, 

Can image his; e'en as the lake, 

Itself disturbed by slightest stroke, 215 

Reflects the invulnerable rock. 

He hears report of battle rife. 

He deems himself the cause of strife. 

I saw him redden when the theme 

Turned, Allan, on thine idle dream 220 

Of Malcolm Graeme in fetters bound, 

Which I, thou saidst, about him wound : 

Think' st thou he trowed thine omen aught? 

O no! 'twas apprehensive thought 

For the kind youth, — for Roderick too — 225 

Let me be just — that friend so true; 

In danger both, and in our cause ! 

Minstrel, the Douglas dare not pause. 

Why else that solemn warning given, 

^If not on earth, we meet in heaven! ' 230 

Why else, to Cambus-kenneth's fane. 

If eve return him not again, 

Am I to hie and make me known? 

Alas I he goes to Scotland's throne. 



207. MS. No, Allan, no 1 His words so kind 
Were hut pretexts my fears to blind. 
When in such solemn tone and grave 
Douglas a parting blessing gave. 

Why is the text better? — 212. Many print on in place of and. Inferior 
reading ? — 

215. MS. Itself disturbed by slightest shock, 
Reflects the adamantine rock. 

— Rhyme better? Imagery improved? — 217. rife. A.S. rif, Icel. rifr, 
prevalent, abounding. — 222. thou saidst. When and where ? — 223. 
trowed. A.S. treoican; Ger. trauen, to trust; Dan. troe, to believe. — 
*' I trow not," Luke, xvii, 9. 

" A bettre preest, I trowe that nowher non is." — Chaucer, Prol., 524. — 

231. Cambus-kenneth's fane = Cambus-kenneth Abbey. It was on 
the left bank of the Forth, a mile from Stirling on the right bank. Of its 
ruins, a massive and picturesque tower yet remains entire. James III 
was buried here in 1488. — Lat. /anwm, a temple. See v, 534. — 233. hie. 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 121 

Buys his friends' safety with his own; 235 

He goes to do — what I had done, 
Had Douglas' daughter been his son! " 



XI. 

" Nay, lovely Ellen ! — dearest, nay ! 

If aught should his return delay. 

He only named yon holy fane 240 

As fitting place to meet again. 

Be sure he's safe; and for the Grseme. — 

Heaven's blessing on his gallant name! — 

My visioned sight may yet prove true, 

Nor bode of ill to him or you. 245 

When did my gifted dream beguile? 

Think of the stranger at the isle. 

Arid think upon the harpings slow 

That presaged this approaching woe ! 

Sooth was my prophecy of fear; 250 

Believe it when it augurs cheer. 

Would we had left this dismal spot ! 

Ill luck still haunts a fairy grot. 

Of such a wondrous tale I know — 

Dear lady, change that look of woe : 255 

My harp was wont thy grief to cheer." 



ELLEjST. 

" Well, be it as thou wilt ; I hear, 

But cannot stop the bursting tear." 

The Minstrel tried his simple art, 

But distant far was Ellen's heart. 260 



A.S. higian, to hasten. — 235. friends'. Many editions have friend's. 
Which is preferable ? Why ? — 

249. presaged. Lat. prae, befoi-e ; saglre, to perceive quickly ; sagus, 
predicting; praesaglre, to have a presentiment; to forebode, foreshow, 
predict. — Presage is a noun = j)rognostic, omen ; presage is a verb. — 
Accent in this line ? — 250. sooth. See i, 476. — 



122 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 



XII. 

BALLAD. 
ALICE BRAND. 



Merry it is in the good greenwood, 

When the mavis and merle are singing, 

When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry. 
And the hunter's horn is ringing. 

" Alice Brand, my native land 265 

Is lost for love of you ! 
And we must hold by wood and wold, 

As outlaws wont to do. 

" Alice, 'twas all for thy locks so bright, 

And 'twas all for thine eyes so blue, 270 

That on the night of our luckless flight 
Thy brother bold I slew ! 

"Now must I teach to hew the beech 

The hand that held the glaive. 
For leaves to spread our lowly bed, 275 

And stakes to fence our cave. 

" And for vest of pall, thy fingers small. 
That wont on harp to stray, 

Ballad. " This little fairy tale is founded upon a very curious Danish 
ballad, which occurs in ... a collection of heroic songs first published in 
1591." Scott. Observe that except in the first line of the first stanza and 

of the last, the prevailing foot is the iambus [w ] interchangeable with 

the anapest [w w ]. In each stanza, the first and third lines have four 

accents each; the second and fourth lines have three accents each. In 
many stanzas there is an extra syllable at the end of the second and 
fourth lines. The ballad is in four parts ; the first part has eight stanzas ; 
the second, five; the third, six; the fourth, eight. One stanza in the 
second part has two extra lines ; one in the third part, and one in the 
fourth, have, each, one additional line. — 202. mavis = European throstle, 
or song thrush. Lat. malum, bad; vitis, vine ; malvitius, bad for vines, the 
thrush being destructive to vines. But it may be of Celtic origin. Bracket. 
— merle =:"European black-bird. — 267. Tvold. = a plain, open country, 
grassy ground as opposed to woodland. Icel. voll, a field. — See 724. — 
274. glaive. See line 150 and v, 253; vi, 800. —277. pall. A kind of 
rich stuff used for garments in the middle ages. A.^. paell, purple cloth; 
Lat. idalla, a mantle. — 278. ivont = are or w^ere accustomed? — See 
i, 408. — In 264 a-7nnging would be better than is ringing [W. W. Davis] ? 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 123 

A cloak must shear from the slaughtered deer, 

To keep the cold away." 280 

" Richard ! if my brother died, 

'T was but a fatal chance; 
For darkling was the battle tried, 

And fortune sped the lance. 

" If pall and vair no more I wear, 285 

Nor thou the crimson sheen, 
As warm, we'll say, is the russet gray, 

As gay the forest-green. 

" And, E-ichard, if our lot be hard, 

And lost thy native land, 290 

Still Alice has her own Richard, 

And he his Alice Brand." 



XIII. 
BALLAD CONTINUED. 

'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood; 

So blithe Lady Alice is singing; 
On the beech's pride, and oak's brown side, 295 

Lord Richard's axe is ringing. 



282. MS. 'Twas but a midnight chance ; 

For blindfold was the battle plied. 
And fortune held the lance. 

Bettered in the final text ? — 283. darkling. Formed from dark by help of 
the adverbial suffix ling, which occurs also mflatling, i.e. flatly. — Milton 
uses it of the nightingale, when speaking of himself in his blindness, — 

" as the wakeful bird 
Sings darkling, and. in shadiest covert hid, 
Tunes her nocturnal note." — Par. Lost, iii, 39-41. 

Shakes, uses it in the sense of in the dark. — See 711. — 285. vair = the 
fur of a small, bluish gray animal resembling a polecat. Such furs were 
worn by ladies of rank. Yonge. — Lat. va7'ius, variegated, spotted, mot- 
tled ; Fr. vair, a kind of fur ; squirrel fur, costly, and much used for 
garments in the 14th century. The squirrel was gray on the back, but 
white on the throat and belly. Cinderella's slipper was of vair, squirrel 
fur, not verre, glass !— 28G. sheen. See on i, 208. — 291. Note the accent 
of the word Richard. No recent writer Avould dare to take such liberty? 



124 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

Up spoke the moody Elfin King, 

Who woned within the hill, — 
Like wind in the porch of a mined church, 

His voice was ghostly shrill. 300 

" Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak, 

Our moonlight circle's screen? 
Or who comes here to chase the deer. 

Beloved of our Elfin Queen? 
Or who may dare on wold to wear 305 

The fairies' fatal green? 

" Up, Urgan, up ! to yon mortal hie, 

For thou wert christened man; 
For cross or sign thou wilt not fly. 

For muttered word or ban. 310 

" Lay on him the curse of the withered heart, 

The curse of the sleepless eye ; 
Till he wish and pray that his life would part. 

Nor yet find leave to die." 



298. woned = lived, dwelt? — See note on wont, i, 408. — Among the 
' Fairy Superstitions ' that once prevailed in Scotland was a belief among 
the Highlanders that certain gnomes, elves, or elf-like beings, called 
Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, inhabited underground palaces, splendidly 
furnished, and abounding with choicest food and liquors ; yet that they 
were not quite happy, but would gladly exchange their tinsel grandeur 
"for the more solid joys of mortality." . . . "Unhappy is the mortal 
who joins in their joys, or ventures to partake of their dainties. By this 
indulgence, he forfeits forever the society of men ; and is bound down 
irrevocably to the condition of Shi' ich, or Man of Peace." — 300. ghostly 
shrill. The notion that ghosts' voices are shrill is classical. Homer 
{Iliad, xxiii, 101; Odyssey, xxiv, 5,9), Vergil {^neid, vi, 492), Horace 
(8th Satire, 1st Book), Shakespeare (Hamlet, I, i, 116; Julius Csesar, II, 
ii, 24) — all agree in this. — 301. why sounds, etc. — "Fairies, if not 
positively malevolent, are capricious and easily offended." Scott. — 

302. MS. Oav fairy ringlet's screen. 

Why the change ? — 305. wold. Line 267. — 306. fatal green. " As the 

Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, wore green habits, they were supposed to 
take offence when any mortals ventured to assume their favorite color. . . . 
Gi^een is held in Scotland to be unlucky in regard to particular tribes and 
countries." Scott. — 308. ^vert christened man. "Many, it is said, 
of mortal race, have been entertained in their secret recesses. ■ • • The 
Elves were supposed greatly to envy the privileges acquired by Christian 
initiation, and they gave to those mortals ... a certain precedence founded 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 125 



XIV. 
BALLAD CONTINUED. 

'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood, 315 

Though the birds have stilled their singing; 

The evening blaze doth Alice raise. 
And Richard is fagots bringing. 

Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf, 

Before Lord Eichard stands, 320 

And, as he crossed and blessed himself, 
"I fear not sign," quoth the grisly elf, 

"That is made with bloody hands." 

But out then spoke she, Alice Brand, 

That woman void of fear, — 325 

"And if there's blood upon his hand, 

'Tis but the blood of deer." 

" Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood ! 

It cleaves unto his hand, 
The stain of thine own kindly blood, 330 

The blood of Ethert Brand." 

Then forward stepped she, Alice Brand, 

And made the holy sign, — 
"And if there's blood on Richard's hand, 

A spotless hand is mine. 335 



upon this advantageous distinction." Scott. — 312. of the sleepless eye 

= from the eye that sleeps not ? of possessing an eye unable to sleep ? So 
Shakes., Macbeth, I, iii, 19, — 

" Sleep shall neither night nor day 
Hang upon his penthouse lid "' [i.e. e}'elid]. 

— 313. part. See on ii, 94, 763.-322. grisly. Note on i, 704. —330. kindly 
= congenial? mild? bland? of kin? kindred? natural? according to the 
kind? — A.S. kind, nature; cynde, natural, innate. — Shakes, uses kindly 
6 times in the sense of natural. In the Prayer Book ' the klndl// fruits of 
the earth ' are the natural fruits. — "It is God's ordinance that kind (i.e. 
of kin) should be kindly, in our modern sense of the word . . . and thus 



126 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO IV. 



"And I conjure thee, demon elf, 
By Him whom demons fear, 

To show us whence thou art thyself, 
And what thine errand here?" 



XV. 
BALLAD CONTINUED. 

" 'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in Fairy-land, 340 

When fairy birds are singing. 
When the court doth ride by their monarch's side 

With bit and bridle ringing : 

" And gayly shines the Fairy -land — 

But all is glistening show, 345 

Like the idle gleam that December's beam 

Can dart on ice and snow. 

" And fading, like that varied gleam, 

Is our inconstant shape, 
Who now like knight and lady seem, 350 

And now like dwarf and ape. 

" It was between the night and day, 

When the Fairy King has power. 
That I sunk down in a sinful fray, 
And 'twixt life and death was snatched away 355 

To the joyless Elfin bower. 

" But wist I of a woman bold 

Who thrice my brow durst sign, 
I might regain my mortal mould. 

As fair a form as thine." 360 

the word has attained this meaning." Trench. —2>dQ. conjure. Differ- 
ence in meaning and sound between this and conjure? — Latin conjurdre, 
to swear togetlier ; bind by oath. — 

345. all is glistening show. " No fact respecting Fairy-land seems 
to be better ascertained than tlie fantastic and illusory nature of their 
apparent pleasure and splendor." Scott. — 355. snatched a-\vay. "The 
subjects of Fairy-land were recruited from the regions of humanity by a 
sort of crimping system. . . . Many of those who were in this world suj)- 
posed to have discliarged the debt of nature, had only become denizens of 
the ' Londe of Faery.' " Scott. — 357. wist I = if I "knew? — A.S. witan, 
to know. To wit = to know. Wist is imperfect tense. — See i, 590. — 
350. mould. Lat. modulus, a model; Fr. moule, a cast, form. — 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 127 

She crossed him once — she crossed him twice — 

That lady was so brave ; 
The fouler grew his goblin hue, 

The darker grew the cave. 

She crossed him thrice, that lady bold; 365 

He rose beneath her hand 
The fairest knight on Scottish mould. 

Her brother, Etliert Brand! 

Merry it is in good greenwood. 

When the mavis and merle are singing, 370 

But merrier were they in Dunfermline gray, 

When all the bells were ringing. 



XVI. 

Just as the minstrel sounds were stayed, 

A stranger climbed the steepy glade; 

His martial step, his stately mien, 375 

His hunting-suit of Lincoln green, 

His eagle glance, remembrance claims — 

'Tis Snowdoun's Knight, 'tis James Fitz-James. 

Ellen beheld as in a dream, 

Then, starting, scarce suppressed a scream : 380 

" O stranger ! in such hour of fear 

What evil hap has brought thee here?"' 

" An evil hap how can it be 

That bids me look again on thee? 

By promise bound, my former guide 385 

Met me betimes this morning-tide, 

And marshalled over bank and bourne 

The happy path of my return." 



3(57. mould. A.S. molde, soil ; Icel. mold, Dan. muld, earth. Akin to 
ineal and mill! — 371. Dunfermline. This town is in Fifeshire, 1<3 
miles N.W. of Edinburgh. King Edward I resided here in 1304. It was 
long the residence of the Scottish kings. Robert Bruce rebuilt the mon- 
astery burned by Edward, and was the last sovereign buried in this 
' Westminster of Scotland.' — 

374. steepy. See iii, 304. — 376. See line 575: i, 461: y\, 738.— 
386. morning-tide. See iii, 478. — 387. bourne = bound, limit [Rolfc] ? 



128 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

" The happy path ! — what ! said he naught 

Of war, of battle to be fought, 090 

Of guarded pass?" "No, by my faith! 

Nor saw I aught could augur scathe." 

" haste thee, Allan, to the kern ! 

Yonder his tartans I discern; 

Learn thou his purpose, and conjure 895 

That he will guide the stranger sure! — 

What prompted thee, unhappy man? 

The meanest serf in Eoderick's clan 

Had not been bribed, by love or fear, 

Unknown to him to guide thee here." 400 



XVII. 

" Sweet Ellen, dear my life must be, 

Since it is worthy care from thee ; 

Yet life I hold but idle breath 

When love or honor's weighed v/ith death. 

Then let me profit by my chance, 405 

And speak my purpose bold at once. 

I come to bear thee from a wild 

Where ne'er before such blossom smiled, 

By this soft hand to lead thee far 

From frantic scenes of feud and war. 410 



stream [Ginn] ? — French home, a boundary, landmark. Gaelic hum 
water; Scot, hum, a brook. — In Milton's Comus, 311-313, we have, 

" I know each lane, and every alley green, 
Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood, 
And every bosky bourn from side to side," 

and in this quotation hourn is supposed to mean ' a winding, deep, narrow 
valley, with a rivulet (Scotch hum) at the bottom.' — See iii, 344. — 
392. scathe. A.S. sceada, harm. Chaucer has, "But she was som-del 
deef, and that was scathe." Spenser and Shakes, use it in the sense of 
misfortune, harm, or mischief. — 393. kern. See on iv, 73. — 395. con- 
jure. See on line 336. — 

403. idle breath, etc. Is this passage clearer than the parallel one 
from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, I, ii, 85-88? 

" Set honor in one eye and death i' the other 
And I will look on both indifferently ; 
For let the gods so speed me as 1 love 
The name of honor more than I fear death." — 

405, 406. Rhyme? — 410. feud. A.Q.feogan, to hate; fah, hostile; faehd, 
enmity; whence comes /os. ISkeat. — 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 129 

Near Bochastle my horses wait; 

They bear us soon to Stirling gate. 

I'll place thee in a lovely bower, 

I'll guard thee like a tender flower — " 

" hush, Sir Knight ! 'twere female art, 415 

To say I do not read thy heart; 

Too much, before, my selfish ear 

Was idly soothed my praise to hear. 

That fatal bait hath lured thee back, 

In deathful hour, o'er dangerous track; 420 

And how, how, can I atone 

The wreck my vanity brought on ! — 

One way remains — I'll tell him all — 

Yes ! struggling bosom, forth it shall ! 

Thou, whose light folly bears the blame, 425 

Buy thine own pardon with thy shame ! 

But first — my father is a man 

Outlawed and exiled, under ban; 

The price of blood is on his head. 

With me 'twere infamy to wed! 430 

Still wouldst thou speak? — then hear the truth! 

Fitz-James, there is a noble youth — 

If yet he is ! — exposed for me 

And mine to dread extremity — 

Thou hast the secret of my heart; 435 

Forgive, be generous, and depart ! " 



xviii. 



Fitz-James knew every wily train 
A lady's fickle heart to gain, 



411. MS. By Cambusmore my horses wait ; 

See on i, 103, 106; iii, 774; v, 301. — 413. bower. See on i, 217; ii, 112. 
— 415. art = artfulness ? affectation? — 417. before. When? — See ii, 
100, 101. — 

41S. MS. Was idly /0Ji(Z ^% praise to hear. 

Improved? — 421. atone = make expiation for? — Ellipsis? — Shakes, 
vises atone 4 times in the sense of ' make at one,' i.e. reconcile. See v, 
735. — 433. if yet he is = if yet he is exposed ? if he yet exists ? — 

437. train = allurement, enticement. Lat. trahere, to draw, attract; 
Fr. tj-ainer, to drag. — Milton uses the phrase loily trains in Comus, 

'•Xow to my charms ami to mv wilv trains,"' 



130 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

But here he knew and felt them vain. 

There shot no glance from Ellen's eye, 440 

To give her steadfast speech the lie ; 

In maiden confidence she stood, 

Though mantled in her cheek the blood, 

And told her love with such a sigh 

Of deep and hopeless agony, 445 

As death had sealed her Malcolm's doom 

And she sat sorrowing on his tomb! 

Hope vanished from Fitz-James's eye, 

But not with hope fled sympathy. 

He proffered to attend her side, 450 

As brother Avould a sister guide. 

"0 little know'st thou Eoderick's heart! 

Safer for both we go apart. 

haste thee, and from Allan learn 

If thou mayst trust yon wily kern ! "' 455 

With hand upon his forehead laid. 

The conflict of his mind to shade, 

A parting step or two he made ; 

Then, as some thought had crossed his brain. 

He paused, and turned, and came again. 460 



XIX. 

" Hear, lady, yet a parting word ! — 

It chanced in fight that my poor sword 

Preserved the life of Scotland's lord. 

This ring the grateful Monarch gave. 

And bade, when I had boon to crave, 405 

To bring it back, and boldly claim 

The recompense that I would name. 

Ellen, I am no courtly lord. 

But one who lives by lance and sword. 

Whose castle is his helm and shield, 470 

His lordship the embattled field : 



Shakespeare and Spenser use train in the same sense. — See on i, 409. — 
446. Ellipsis ? — See line 459 ; also note on ii, 56. — 

464. MS. This ring o/^roZc? the monarch gave. 

Improved upon? — 470. helm. Strictly poetic?— 471. lordship = manor? 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 131 

What from a prince can I demand, 

Who neither reck of state or land? 

Ellen, thy hand — the ring is thine; 

Each guard and usher knows the sign. 475 

Seek thou the King without dela}^ ; 

This signet shall secure thy way : 

And claim thy suit, whate'er it be. 

As ransom of his pledge to me." 

He placed the golden circlet on, 480 

Paused — kissed her hand — and then w^as gone I 

The aged Minstrel stood aghast, 

So hastily Fitz-James shot past. 

He joined his guide, and w^ending down 

The ridges of the mountain brown, 485 

Across the stream they took their ^vay 

That joins Loch Katrine to Achray. 



XX. 

All in the Trosachs' glen was still, 

Noontide was sleeping on the hill : 

Sudden his guide whooped loud and high — 490 

" Murdoch ! w^as that a signal crj^? " — 

He stammered forth, " I shout to scare 

Yon raven from his dainty fare." 

domain? landed estates ? — embattled = where battle is raging? — 
473. reck. A. S. ?'ec«/?, to care for; make account. Poetic? — 

4U. MS. Permit this haiul — the ring is thine ; 

Better as modified? — 475. usher. Lat. ostium, door, gate; ostianus, 
door-keeper; Fr. /luis, door ; /missie?', door-keeper. 

4T6. MS. " Seek thou the King, and on thy knee 
Put forth thy suit, whate'er it be, 
As ransom of his pledge to me ; 
My name.and this shall make thy way." 
\l(^ put the little signet on. 

— From the day when " Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put 
it upon Joseph's hand" {Genesis, xli, 42), the ring, bestowed or lent, has 
often endowed the receiver with all the power of the owner. — 477. sig- 
net. Lat. signum ; Fr. signc, sign; dimin. signet, little sign. — 

492. MS. He stanunored forth confused reply : 

firZiightl^'^^''^''^^''^^^''^^' 
Yon raven from his dainty fare. 



132 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

He looked — lie knew the raven's prey, 

His own brave steed : " Ah ! gallant gray ! 495 

For thee — for me, perchance — 'twere well 

We ne'er had seen the Trosachs' dell. — 

Murdoch, move first — but silently ; 

Whistle or whoop, and thou shalt die ! " 

Jealous and sullen on they fared, 500 

Each silent, each upon his guard. 



XXI. 

Now wound the path its dizzy ledge 

Around a precipice's edge. 

When lo ! a wasted female form, 

Blighted by wrath of sun and storm, 505 

In tattered weeds and wild array. 

Stood on a cliff beside the way. 

And glancing round her restless eye. 

Upon the wood, the rock, the sky. 

Seemed naught to mark, yet all to spy. oio 

Her brow Avas wreathed with gaudy broom ; 

With gesture wild she waved a plume 

Of feathers, which the eagles fling 

To crag and cliff from dusky wing; 

Such spoils her desperate step had sought, 515 

Where scarce was footing for the goat. 

The tartan plaid she first descried. 

And shrieked till all the rocks replied; . 

As loud she laughed when near they drew, 

For then the Lowland garb she knew; 520 

And then her hands she wildly wrung, 

And then she wept, and then she sung — 

She sung! — the voice, in better time, 

Perchance to harp or lute might chime; 

Judicious changes? — 500. fared. K.^. faran; Ger. fahren, to go. So 
farewell = go well (on the journey of life!) — Note the rhyme. — 

506. weeds. A.S. waed, a garment. AVe say loldoio's loeeds. See v, 
465. — Spenser, Chapman, Shakespeare, Milton, and Tennyson use ' weeds ' 
in the sense of clothing. 

506. MS. Wrap2)'d in a tattered mantle gray. 

Wherein the superiority of the text? — 523. better time = more correct 
measure (musically speaking) ? happier days? — 521. chime = harmonize, 
sing [Taylor]? sound in harmony, accord? — See vi, 592. 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 133 

And now, though strained and roughened, still 525 
Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill. 

XXII. 

SONG. 

They bid me sleep, they bid me pray, 

They say my brain is warped and w' rung — 

I cannot sleep on Highland brae, 

I cannot pray in Highland tongue. 5;>o 

But were I now where Allan glides. 

Or heard my native Devan's tides, 

So sweetly would I rest, and pray 

That Heaven would close my wintry day! 

'Twas thus my hair they bade me braid, 535 

They made me to the church repair; 

It was my bridal morn they said, 

And my true love would meet me there. 

But Avoe betide the cruel guile 

That drowned in blood the morning smile ! 5i0 

And woe betide the fairy dream I 

I only waked to sob and scream. 

XXIII. 

"Who is this maid? what means her lay? 

She hovers o'er the hollow way. 

And flutters wide her mantle gray, . 545 

As the lone heron spreads his wing. 

By twilight, o'er a haunted spring." 

"'Tis Blanche of Devan," Murdoch said, 

" A crazed and captive Lowland maid, 

Ta'en on the morn she was a bride, 550 

When Roderick forayed Devan-side. 

529. brae. See on ii, 624. —531, 532. Allan, Devan. " Two beauti- 
ful streams — the latter celebrated in the poetry of Burns — which descend 
from the hills of Perthshire into the great carse, or plain, of Stirling." 
Lockhart. — 539. betide. A. S. ^ido/i, to happen. — 

548. MS. ' A Snxon born, a crazy inaid — 

'Tis Blanche of Devan,' .vlurdoch said. 

What objection to this? — 551. forayed. Late Lat. fodrum (akin to 
food), Yv.fenrre, fodder ; fourrager, to wanfler in search of food. Bracket, 



134 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cAXTO IV. 

The gay bridegroom resistance made, 

And felt our Chief's unconquered blade. 

I marvel she is now at large, 

But oft she scapes from Maudlin's charge. — 555 

Hence, brain-sick fool ! " — He raised his bow : — 

"Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow, 

I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far 

As ever peasant pitched a bar ! " 

" Thanks, champion, thanks ! " the Maniac cried, 560 

And pressed her to Fitz-James's side. 

" See the gray pennons I prepare. 

To seek my true love through the air ! 

I will not lend that savage groom. 

To break his fall, one downy plume ! 505 

jSTo ! — deep amid disjointed stones, 

The wolves shall batten on his bones. 

And then shall his detested plaid. 

By bush and brier in mid -air stayed, 

Wave forth a banner fair and free, 570 

Meet signal for their revelry." 



XXIV. 

" Hush thee, poor maiden, and be still ! " 
" ! thou look'st kindly, and I will. 

etc. — 552. bridegroom. "Here accented on the 2d syllable," says 
Rolfe. But would it not be a relief, sometimes, to vary the monotony? 
In poetry, as in music, do not the best artists occasionally introduce a 
discord for variety or imitation? — See Staines & Barret's Miis. Diet. 
under color and syucopation. — Says Pope, "The sound should seem 
an echo to the sense." — A.S. hy^yd, bride; guma, Lat, homo, man. — 
555. scapes. Scott prints it 'scapes. — Lat. ex cappa, out of the cape or 
cloak; Fr. echctpper, Ital. scappare, to escape. Bracket. — In both prose 
and poetry, scape is used in the Elizabethan age. — 559. pitched a bar. 
In athletics? — See v, 648. — 'Putting the bar' or 'putting the stone' is 
an ancient test of strength and skill in Scotland. 

5r)2. MS. With thee these pennons xvill I share, 
Then -^cck my true-love throiip:li the air. 
Blit I II not lend that savage groom 
To V)reak liis fiill one downy plume ! 
Deep, deep 'mid yon disjointed stones 
The wo?/ shall batten on his bones ! 

Improved as recast? — pennons. Lat. penna, a feather, a wing: Fr. 
pennon, properly a little Hag like a large feather. Bracket. — 567. bat- 
ten. Icel. batna, to grow better. From Gothic root bat, good, whence 
comes better. Skeat. — • 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 135 

Mine eye has dried and wasted been, 

But still it loves tlie Lincoln green ; 575 

And, though mine ear is all unstrung, 

Still, still it loves the Lowland tongue. 

" For my sweet William was forester true, 

He stole poor Blanche's heart away! 
His coat it was all of the greenwood hue, 580 

And so blithely he trilled the Lowland lay ! 

" It was not that I meant to tell . . . 

But thou art wise and guessest well." 

Then, in a low and broken tone, 

And hurried note, the song went on. 585 

Still on the Clansman fearfully 

She fixed her apprehensive eye. 

Then turned it on the Knight, and then 

Her look glanced wildly o'er the glen. 



XXV. 

"The toils are pitched, and the stakes are set, — 590 

Ever sing merrily, merrily; 
The bows they bend, and the knives they whet. 

Hunters live so cheerily. 



575. Lincoln green. See line 520; also 376; and i, 464; vi, 738. — 

5TS. MS. Sweet William was a ivoodsman true, 
He stole poor Blanche's heart away I 
His coat was of the/ores^ hue, 
And street he stmg\lw lowland laj-. 

How bettered ? — 383. thou art wise and guessest well. Jeffrey 
sharply criticises this introduction of a crazed person to warn Fitz-Janies. 
He says, " No machinery can be conceived more clumsy for affectinij the 
deliverance of a distressed hero than the introdiiction'of a mad W(7nan, 
who, without knowins: or caring ab'nit the wanderer, warns him by a 
so7ir/ to take care [vie] of the ambush that Avas set for him. The maniacs 
of poetry have indeed had a prescriptive ri^ht to be musical since the 
days of Ophelia downwards ; but it is rather a rash extension of this privi- 
lege to make them sing good sense and to make sensible people be guided 
by them." — Show the soundness or unsoundness of Jeffrey's criticism. 
590. toils. Lat. texere, to weave; tela, a web; Fr. toiles, a net for 



136 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO l\. 

"It was a stag, a stag of ten, 

Bearing its brandies sturdily; 595 

He came stately clown the glen, — 

Ever sing hardily, hardily. 

" It was there he met with a wounded doe, 

She was bleeding deathfully; 
She warned him of the toils below, 60o 

0, so faithfully, faithfully ! 

"He had an ej-e, and he <30uld heed, — 

Ever sing warily, warily; 
He had a foot, and he could speed, — 

Hunters watch so narrowly." 605 



XXVI. 

Fitz-James's mind was passion-tossed. 

When Ellen's hints and fears were lost; 

But Murdoch's shout suspicion wrought, 

And Blanche's song conviction brought. 

Not like a stag that spies the snare, (iio 

But lion of the hunt aware, 

He waved at once his blade on high — 

" Disclose thy treachery, or die ! " 

Forth at full speed the Clansman flew. 

But in his race his bow he drew. Gl5 

The shaft just grazed Fitz-James's crest. 

And thrilled in Blanche's faded breast. — 

Murdoch of Alpine ! prove thy speed, 

For ne'er had Alpine's son such need; 

beasts. Long e in Latin regularly becomes oh in French? — 594. of ten. 
Scott explains this as meaning ' having ten branches on his antlers.' 
Similarly of ten is used by Jonson and Massinger. Taylor defines it as 
'having ten branches on" each antler.' — 595. sturdily. The 'triple 
rhymes ' in this song have been criticised as 'very loose.' Are they not 
all the more natural under the circumstances? — 597. hardily = boldly ? 
resolutely ? — 607. See lines 381, 382, 389-400. — - 

614. MS. Forth at full speed the Clansman tyeni; 
But in his race his bow he bent, 
Halted — and hack an arrow sent. 

Bettered on reconsideration? — 617. thrilled = quivered [Rolfe] ? pierced, 
with quivering motion, causing a tingling or shivering sensation? quiv- 
ered and caused a thrilling sensation? — A.S. thyrlian, to pierce. — 



CAXTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 137 

AVith heart of fire, and foot of wind, 620 

The fierce avenger is behind ! 

Fate judges of the rapid strife — 

The forfeit death — the prize is life; 

Thy kindred ambush lies before, 

Close couched upon the heathery moor; 625 

Them couldst thou reach! — it may not be — 

Thine ambushed kin thou ne'er shalt see, 

The fiery Saxon gains on thee ! — 

Resistless speeds the deadly thrust. 

As lightning strikes the pine to dust; 030 

With foot and hand Fitz-James must strain 

Ere he can win his blade again. 

Bent o'er the fallen with falcon eye, 

He grimly smiled to see him die, 

Then slower wended back his way, 635 

Where the poor maiden bleeding lay. 

XXVII. 

She sat beneath the birchen tree, 

Her elbow resting on her knee ; 

She had withdrawn the fatal shaft, 

And gazed on it, and feebly laughed; 640 

Her wreath of broom and feathers gray, 

Daggled with blood, beside her lay. 

The Knight to stanch the life-stream tried, — 

"Stranger, it is in vain! " she cried.- 

" This hour of death has given me more 645 

Of reason's power than years before; 



629. MS. It may not be 

The fiery Saxoii gains on thee, 
Thine ambushed kin thou ne'er shalt see ! 
Resistless as the lightning's flame. 
Tlie thrust heticixt his shoulder came. 

Were these changes for the better ? — 

633. >45. Then o'er him hung, with falcon eye, 
A nd grimly smiled to see him die. " 

Improvement ? — 

642. daggled = spattered [Ginn] ? wet, soaked [Taylor, Rolre, etc.] ? 
— Swed. dagg ; Icel. dogg, dew; Old Eng. and Scot, dag, fine rain, a 
misty shower, dew. — In Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1, 316, we read, 
" was daggled by the dashing spray." — 



13.S THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO IV. 

For, as these ebbing veins decay, 

My frenzied visions fade away. 

A helpless injured wretch I die. 

And something tells me in thine eye G50 

That thou wert mine avenger born. 

Seest thou this tress? — 0, still I've worn 

This little tress of yellow hair, 

Through danger, frenzy, and despair! 

It once was bright and clear as thine, 655 

But blood and tears have dimmed its shine. 

I will not tell thee when 'twas shred, 

Nor from what guiltless victim's head, — 

My brain would turn ! — but it shall wave 

Like plumage on thy helmet brave 6(!0 

Till sun and Avind shall bleach the stain, 

And thou wilt bring it me again. 

I waver still. — God! more bright 

Let reason beam her parting light ! — 

O, by thy knighthood's honored sign, 6G5 

And for thy life preserved by mine, 

AVhen thou shalt see a darksome man. 

Who boasts him Chief of Alpine's Clan, 

With tartans broad and shadowy plume. 

And hand of blood, and brow of gloom, 670 

Be thy heart bold, thy weapon strong, 

And wreak poor Blanche of Devan's wrong! — 

They watch for thee by pass and fell . . . 

Avoid the path ... God ! . . . farewell ! " 



XXVIII. 

A kindly heart had brave Fitz- James ; 675 

Fast poured his eyes at pity's claims; 

e^Q. MS. A ffuiltless injured -wretch I die. 

Wise to substitute 'helpless'? — 657. slired. A.S. srreadian, to cut or 
tear into small pieces; shred, a strip. — Is the sense cut off now obso- 
lete?— 

659. MS. But noiv. my champion, — it shall wave. 

665. kniglithood's honored sign. See line 756; i, 18. — 672. wreak 
= punish? avenge? revenge? — A.S. tvrecan, to punish; Ger. radian, to 
avenge. Shakes., Spenser, and Chaucer use icreak in the sense of avenge 
or revenge. — 



CAXTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 139 

And now, with mingled grief and ire, 

He saw the murdered maid expire. 

" God, in my need, be my relief, 

As I wreak this on yonder Chief! " 680 

A lock from Blanche's tresses fair 

He blended with her bridegroom's hair; 

The mingled braid in blood he dyed. 

And placed it on his bonnet-side : 

" By Him whose word is truth, I swear, 685 

No other favor will I wear. 

Till this sad token I imbrue 

In the best blood of Eoderick Dhu ! — ■ 

But hark! what means yon faint halloo? 

The chase is up, — but they shall know, 690 

The stag at bay's a dangerous foe.'" 

Barred from the known but guarded way, 

Through copse and cliffs Fitz-James must stray. 

And oft must change his desperate track, 

By stream and precipice turned back. 695 

Heartless, fatigued, and faint, at length. 

From lack of food and loss of strength, 

He couched him in a thicket hoar. 

And thought his toils and perils o'er: — 

" Of all my rash adventures past, 700 

This frantic feat must prove the last! 

Who e'er so mad but might have guessed 

That all this Highland hornet's nest 

Would muster up in swarms so soon 

As e'er they heard of bands at Doune? — 705 

Like bloodhounds now they search me out, — 

Hark, to the whistle and the shout ! — 



679. MS. God in my need, to me be true. 

As I wreak this on Roderick Dhu. 

In need of change? — 686. f avor = gift of lady-love, to be worn as a 
souvenir? Some love-token, as a glove, a ribl^on, a scarf, was often worn 
by the knight as a perpetual reminder of his duty. See i. IS. — 61)0. up 
= going on? over? ended? — 691. at bay's a dangerous foe. See on 
1, 133.— 698. couched him. See 710: also i, 142, 147. — 699. o'er = all 
about? past ? He thought over his troubles? or thought his troubles were 
ended? — 700. adventures. See on i, 409, and Scott's account of James 
in Tales of a Grandfather. — 70o. See lines 150, 156. — 711. darkling. 
See on 283! — 



140 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO lY. 

If farther through the wilds I go, 

I only fall upon the foe : 

I'll couch me here till evening gray, 710 

Then darkling try my dangerous way." 

XXIX. 

The shades of eve come sloAvly down, 

The woods are wrapt in deeper brown. 

The owl awakens from her dell, 

The fox is heard upon the fell; 715 

Enough remains of glimmering light 

To guide the wanderer's steps aright, 

Yet not enough from far to show 

His figure to the watchful foe. 

With cautious step and ear awake, 720 

He climbs the crag and threads the brake ; 

And not the summer solstice there 

Tempered the midnight mountain air, 

But every breeze that swept the wold 

Benumbed his drenched limbs with cold. 725 

In dread, in danger, and alone, 

Famished and chilled, through ways unknown. 

Tangled and steep, he journeyed on; 

Till, as a rock's huge point he turned, 

A watch-lire close before him burned. 730 

XXX. 

Beside its embers red and clear. 
Basked in his plaid a mountaineer; 
And up he sprung with sword in hand, — 
"Thy name and purpose! Saxon, stand! " 

715. fell. See ii, 804. —722. solstice. Lat. sol, sun; stare, to stand; 
sistere, to cause to stand. Ou June 21, the sun, having, for about six 
months, daily risen higher towards the zenith at noon, seems to cease this 
northward motion, and, moving parallel to the equator, seems to stand 
still for a short time, before beginning to descend towards the south? 
Again, Dec. 21, the sun having gone to the lowest southern point, again 
seems to stand still, before beginning to rise daily higher and higher 
towards the north? — 724. wold. See lines 267, 304. — 

731. MS. By the decayivg flnme was laid 
A warrior ui hi ^ Highland i)laid. 

As poetic ? — Rhyme ? i, 363 ; iv, 764. — 734. Saxon. Note on v, 18. — 



CANTO lA'.] THE PROPHECY. 141 

"A stranger." "What dost thou require?" 735 

" Rest and a guide, and food and fire. 

My life's beset, my path is lost, 

The gale has chilled my limbs with frost." 

" Art thou a friend to Roderick? " " No." 

" Thou dar'st not call thyself a foe? " 740 

" I dare ! to him and all the band 

He brings to aid his murderous hand." 

" Bold words ! — but, though the beast of game 

The privilege of chase may claim, 

Though space and law the stag we lend, 745 

Ere hound we slip or bow we bend, 

Who ever recked, where, how, or when, 

The prowling fox was trapped or slain? 

Thus treacherous scouts, — yet sure they lie, 

Who say thou cam'st a secret spy ! " — 750 

"They do, by heaven! — come Roderick Dhu 

And of his clan the boldest two. 

And let me but till morning rest, 

I write the falsehood on their crest." 

" If by the blaze I mark aright, 755 

Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight." 

" Then by these tokens mayst thou know 

Each proud oppressor's mortal foe." 

"Enough, enough; sit down and share 

A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare." 760 



741. MS. I dare ! to him and all the sjoarwi 

He brings to aid his murderous arm. 

Changed well? — 745. space and law, etc. By rule or usage the stag 
was privileged, allowed a fair chance for its life? game preserves and 
game laws established? — 74G. slip. By a leash (i.e. leather thong, band, 
or cord) the hunter held back his hounds, till ready to let them slip in 
pursuit. 

" I see you stand like grej'hounds in the slips 
Straining upon the start." — Henry V, III, i, 31. — 

747. who ever recked, etc. " We gave laws to hares and deer, because 
they are beasts of chase ; but it was never accounted either cruelty or 
foul play to knock foxes and wolves ou the head as they can be found ; 
because they are beasts of prey." Quoted by Scott from Clarendon, as 
used by St. John against the Earl of Strafford's plea. — 756, 757, 758. See 
on 665 ; i, 18, 475, 532 : and, more particularly, on v, 769. 



142 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO IV. 



XXXI. 

He gave him of his Highland cheer, 

The hardened flesh of mountain deer; 

Dry fuel on the fire he laid, 

And bade the Saxon share his plaid. 

He tended him like welcome guest, ' 705 

Then thus his further speech addressed: — 

" Stranger, I am to Koderick Dhu 

A clansman born, a kinsman true ; 

Each word against his honor spoke 

Demands of me avenging stroke; 770 

Yet more, — upon thy fate, 'tis said, 

A might}^ augury is laid. 

It rests with me to wind my horn, — 

Thou art with numbers overborne; 

It rests with me, here, brand to brand, 775 

Worn as thou art, to bid thee stand : 

But, not for clan, nor kindred's cause, 

Will I depart from honor's laws; 

To assail a wearied man were shame. 

And stranger is a holy name; 780 

Guidance and rest and food and fire, 

In vain he never must require. 

Then rest thee here till dawn of day; 

Myself will guide thee on the way. 

O'er stock and stone, through watch and ward, 786 

Till past Clan- Alpine's outmost guard, 

As far as Coilantogle's ford; 

Trom thence thy warrant is thy sword." 

762. hardened flesh. Scott quotes from Vies d^s Hommes Illustres, 
to show the usacre in Edward the Sixth's time (15-t7-155;3) , — "These 
Scottish savages deA^onr a part of their venison raw, without any farther 
preparation than compressing it between two batons of wood, so as to 
force out the blood and render it extremely hard. This they reckoned a 
great delicacy." — 772. mighty augury. See lines (iO-65, 132, 133. See 
also iii, 174. — 777. The 1st edition reads, " But nor for clan, nor kindred's 
cause." More poetic, but less like Roderick? — 780. stranger is a holy 
name. Pee on v, 270. See as to the treatment of strangers in ancient 
times The Odyssey, books iii, iv, etc. — 785. stock and stone. See i, 
130. — watch and ward = those who watch and guard. — Rhyme? — 
787. Coilantogle's ford. On the Teith, not far from the outlet of Loch 
Vennachar. See map. — At this ford he would leave Roderick's district, 
and enter that of the loyal Lowlands, where law and order prevailed. — 



CANTO IV.] THE PROPHECY. 143 

" I take thy courtesy, by heaven I 

As freely as 'tis nobly given ! " 790 

"Well, rest thee; for the bittern's cry 

Sings us the lake's wild lullaby." 

With that he shook the gathered heath, 

And spread his plaid upon the wreath; 

And the brave foemen, side by side, 795 

Lay peaceful down like brothers tried, 

And slept until the dawning beam 

Purpled the mountain and the stream. 



788. warrant = guaranty of safety? safeguard? passport? — See v, 62. 
— A.S. w«(^/'. cautious; Ger. r/eicahr, aware; gewelu^ to keep; Low Lat. 
icarantus ; Fr. (/((rant; Friesic vxirend : guarantee, voucher, surety.— 
791. bittern's cry. ' The only sound to lull the lake to sleep.' — See on 
i, C42.— 

797. MS. And slept until the dawning streak 
Purpled the mountain and the lake. 

Why objectionable? — 



CANTO FIFTH. 

THE COMBAT. 



Fa IK as the earliest beam of eastern light, 

When first, by the bewildered pilgrim spied, 
It smiles upon the dreary brow of night. 

And silvers o'er the torrent's foaming tide, 
And lights the fearful path on mountain-side, — 5 

Fair as that beam, although the fairest far. 
Giving to horror grace, to danger pride. 

Shine martial Faith and Courtesy's bright star 
Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the brow of War. 

II. 

That early beam, so fair and sheen, lO 

Was twinkling through the hazel screen, 

When, rousing at its glimmer red. 

The warriors left their lowly bed, 

Looked out upon the dappled sky, 

Muttered their soldier matins by, 15 

Canto V. Fair. Is this stauza specially appropriate ? How does it 
affect our sympathies ? our estimate of Roderick ? Parallel instances of 
chivalrous magnanimity in war. 

It is unfortunate that, after the powerful description in the first half 
of this Canto, the intensity of interest should be relaxed by the account of 
the games, etc., in the last half. Should this order of events have been 
inverted ? 

5. MS. And lights the fearful loay along its side. 

Bettered in revising ? 

10. sheen. Note on i, 208. — 14. dappled. Icel. depill, a dot ; spot on 
a ground of other color; spotted dog; akin to dah, a blotch, daub. — In 
Shakes., the day 

"Dapples the drowsy east \\ith spots of gray." Much Ado, V. iil, 27. 

— 15. See i, 293; ii, 3. — by = near? off? hastily and mechanically? out 
of the way? past? — See hij in line 547.— Used here to make out the 
rhyme? — 16. steal = take hastily, as if it were hardly right to spend 

144 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 145 

And then awaked their lire, to steal, 

As short and rude, their soldier meal. 

That o'er, the Gael around him threw 

His graceful plaid of varied hue, 

And, true to promise, led the way, 20 

By thicket green and mountain gray. 

A wildering path! — they winded now 

Along the precipice's brow, 

Commanding the rich scenes beneath, 

The windings of the Forth and Teith, 25 

And all the vales between that lie. 

Till Stirling's turrets melt in sky; 

Then, sunk in copse, their farthest glance 

Gained not the length of horseman's lance. 

'Twas oft so steep, the foot was fain 30 

Assistance from the hand to gain; 

So tangled oft that, bursting through. 

Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew, — 

That diamond dew, so pure and clear 

It rivals all but Beauty's tear! • 35 



III. 

At length they came where, stern and steep, 

The hill sinks down upon the deep. 

Here Vennachar in silver flows, 

There, ridge on ridge, Benledi rose ; . 

Ever the hollow path twined on 40 

Beneath steep bank and threatening stone ; 

A hundred men might hold the post 

With hardihood against a host. 



time iu that way? — IS. Gael. "The Scottish Highlander calls himself 
Gael, or Gaul; and terms the Lowlanders Sassenach, or Saxons." i>cott. 

— 22. wildering . . . ^vil^ded. See on i, 274, 500. — 32. bursting 
through = as they burst through [Taylor] ? as it burst through [Rolfe] ? 

— Who, or what, burst through what ? — 'A piece of loose writing ' [Tay- 
lor] ? — 35. rivals all but, "etc. Too 'effusive"? More appropriate if 
uttered by young Malcolm ? — 

30. MS. At lenpth thcv paced the mounttiin's si(fe 
And saw beneath the loaters loide. 

Whycbanged? — 38,39. flow's . . . rose. Grammar sacrificed to rhyme? 



146 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

The rugged mountain's scanty cloak 

Was dwarfish shrubs of birch and oak, 45 

With shingles bare, and cliffs between, 

And patches bright of bracken green, 

And heather black, that waved so high 

It held the copse in rivalry. 

But where the lake slept deep and still, 50 

Dank osiers fringed the swamp and hill; 

And oft both path and hill were torn, 

Where wintry torrent down had borne 

And heaped upon the cumbered land 

Its wreck of gravel, rocks, and sand. 55 

So toilsome was the road to trace, 

The guide, abating of his pace, 

Led slowly through the pass's jaws. 

And asked Fitz-James by what strange cause 

He sought these wilds, traversed by -few, 60 

Without a pass from Roderick Dhu. 



IV. 

"Brave Gael, my pass, in danger tried, 

Hangs in my belt and by my side ; 

Yet, sooth to tell," the Saxon said, 

" I dreamt not now to claim its aid. 65 

When here, but three days since, I came 

Bewildered in pursuit of game. 

All seemed as peaceful and as still 

As the mist slumbering on yon hill ; 

Thy dangerous Chief was then afar, 70 

Nor soon expected back from war. 

44. MS. The rugged mountain's stunted screen 

Was dwarfish i ^Jj^g* | ?fi</» cliffs between. 

46. shingles. See iii, 171. — Taylor calls attention to the fact that the 
details of tlie description in this stanza are used a.ijain in stanza ix, lines 
196-210. Verify. — 51. osier. Fr. o.s/er, water willow. — danlc. Swed- 
ish dank, a wet place ; Onfin, dew. Used by Shakes, and Milton in the 
sense of moist. — 58. pass's. L,a.t. passus, a. footstep, pace. Narrow pas- 
sage, defile. — 61. pass = passport ? permit? — 

64. sootli. See on i, 476. — " In sooth, I know not why I am so sad." 
Mer. of Yen., I, i, 1. — 

65. MS. I dreamed not now to draw my blade. 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 147 

Thus said, at 'least, my mountain-guide, 

Though deep perchance the viUain lied." 

" Yet why a second venture try ? " 

" A warrior thou, and ask me why ! — 75 

Moves our free course by such fixed cause 

As gives the poor mechanic laws ? 

Enough, I sought to drive away 

The lazy hours of peaceful day ; 

Slight cause will then suffice to guide 80 

A Knight's free footsteps far and wide, — 

A falcon flown, a greyhound strayed, 

The merry glance of mountain maid ; 

Or, if a path be dangerous known, 

The danger's self is lure alone." 85 



V. 

" Thy secret keep, I urge thee not ; — 

Yet, ere again ye sought this spot. 

Say, heard ye not of Lowland war. 

Against Clan- Alpine, raised by Mar ? " 

" No, by my word ; — of bands ]U'epared 90 

To guard King James's sports I heard ; 

Nor doubt I aught, but, when they hear 

This muster of the mountaineer. 

Their pennons will abroad be flung, 

Which else in Doune had peaceful hung." 95 

"Free be they flung! for we were loath 

Their silken folds should feast the moth. 

Free be they flung ! — as free shall wave 

Clan- Alpine's pine in banner brave. 

But, stranger, peaceful since you came, 100 

Bewildered in the mountain-game, 



— Reason for the change? — 78. enough = let it be regarded as a suffi- 
cient reason ? let it suffice ? — 

81. MS. My erra«n\)()tsteps '- far and widp 

A kuight's bold wanderings \ ^^^ ^"" ^^^'^^• 

Point out and justify the changes. — 

80. I urge thee not. The MS. has "I ask it not." Less correct? — 
88, 89. Roderick's fatal mistake !— 90, 91. Rhyme!— 94. pennons = 
plumes? flags? streamers? — See on iv, 562. — 95. Doune. The MS. 



148 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

Whence the bold boast by which you show 
- Vich-Alpine's vowed and mortal foe ? " 
" Warrior, but yester-morn I knew 
Naught of thy Chieftain, Koderick Dhu, 105 

Save as an outlawed desperate man, 
The chief of a rebellious clan, 
Who, in the Regent's court and sight. 
With ruffian dagger stabbed a knight • 
Yet this alone might from his part lio 

Sever each true and loyal heart." 



VI. 

Wrathful at such arraignment foul. 

Dark lowered the clansman's sable scowl. 

A space he paused, then sternly said, 

" And heardst thou why he drew his blade ? 115 

Heardst thou that shameful word and blow 

Brought Roderick's vengeance on his foe ? 

What recked the Chieftain if he stood 

On Highland heath or Holy-Rood ? 

He rights such wrong where it is given, 120 

If it were in the court of heaven." 

" Still was it outrage ; — yet, 'tis true, 

Not then claimed sovereignty his due ; 

While Albany with feeble hand 

Held borrowed truncheon of command, 125 

The young King, mewed in Stirling tower, 

Was stranger to respect and power. 

has /jaiZinstead of Z)o?me. Inferior? — See on iv, 19; v, 492. — 106. out- 
lawed. The 1st ed. has exiled. — 108. See on ii, 221, 225. 

112. arraignment. Lat. ad, to ; rationem ; Low Lat. arrationare, 
to demand the reason, call to an account; Old Fr. arraisoner, to bring 
before a tribunal, accuse. — 113. lowered. A.S. hle6r, Mid. Eng. lei^e, 
the cheek. Akin to leei', to look with sly or sinister intent. ' All the 
clouds that lowered [i.e. looked darkly, gloomily, threateningly] upon our 
house.' Richard III, I, i, 3. — " It will be foul weather to-day for the sky 
is red and lowering." Matt., xvi, 3. — 124. Albany, etc. On the death 
of James IV, at Floddentield in 1513, John Stewart, Duke of Albany, the 
regent mentioned in line 108, was called home from France by the Scottish 
nobles, and made regent or ruler during the minority of James V, then a 
little child. — 125. truncheon. Lat. truncal, Fr. tronc, trunk, stock, 
stem, piece cut oif ; dim. tron<;on, fragment ; Eng. truncheon, cudgel, short 
staff; spear staff; baton, or staff Of authority. — 126. mewed. The 
origin of this word is curious. Lat, mutare, to change; Fr. muer, to 



CANTO \.'] THE COMBAT. 149 

But then, tliy Chieftain's robber life ! — 
Winning mean prey by causeless strife, 
Wrenching from ruined Lowland swain 130 

His herds and harvests reared in vain, — 
Methinks a soul like thine should scorn 
The spoils from such foul foray borne." 



VII. 

The Gael beheld him grim the while, 

And answered with disdainful smile : 135 

" Saxon, from yonder mountain high, 

I marked thee send delighted eye 

Far to the south and east, where lay, 

Extended in succession gay. 

Deep waving fields and pastures green, 140 

AVith gentle slopes and groves between: — 

These fertile plains, that softened vale, 

Were once the birthright of the Gael ; 

The stranger came with iron hand. 

And from our fathers reft the land. 145 

Where dwell we now ? See, rudely swell 

Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell. 

Ask we this savage hill we tread 

For fattened steer or household bread ; 

Ask we for flocks these shingles dry, 150 

And well the mountain might reply, — 

'To you, as to jowt sires of yore. 

Belong the target and claymore ! 

I give you shelter in my breast. 

Your own good blades must win the rest.' 155 

Pent in this fortress of the North, 

Think'st thou we will not sally forth, 

moult, i.e. change or shed feathers, rnue, a moulting place, coop or bird- 
cage; whence Eng. mew, to shut up as in a cage; coniine, imprison. — 
Is the truth of history correctly stated in these lines? — 127. Scott says, 
" There is scarcely a more disorderly period of Scottish history than that 
which succeeded the battle of Flodden, and occupied the minority of 
James V. Feuds of ancient standing broke out like old wounds, and 
every quarrel . . . gave rise to fresh l3loodshed." — 

150. shingles. Line 46; iii, 171. — 152, 153. as to your sires, etc. 
Has Roderick read the histories ? Tacitus says, in Agricola, the ancient 
Britons utuntur ingentihus glacUis ct b}'evibus eetris, use big swords and 



loO THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

To spoil the spoiler as we iiiay, 

And from the robber rend the prey ? 

Ay, by my soul ! — While on yon plain 160 

The Saxon rears one shock of grain, 

While of ten thousand herds there strays 

But one along yon river's maze, — 

The Gael, of plain and river heir. 

Shall with strong hand redeem his share. 165 

Where live the mountain Chiefs who hold 

That plundering Lowland field and fold 

Is aught but retribution true ? 

Seek other cause 'gainst Eoderick Dhu." 



VIII. 

Answered Fitz-James : " And, if I sought, 170 

Think'st thou no other could be bought ? 

What deem ye of my path waylaid ? 

My life given o'er to ambuscade ? " 

" As of a meed to rashness due : 

Hadst thou sent warning fair and true, — 175 

I seek my hound or falcon strayed ; 

I seek, good faith, a Highland maid, — 

Free hadst thou been to come and go ; 

But secret path marks secret foe. 

Nor yet for this, even as a spy, 180 

Hadst thou, unheard, been doomed to die, 

Save to fulfil an augury." 

" Well, let it pass ; nor will I now 

Fresh cause of enmity avow. 

To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow. 185 



short shields. See ii. 274; i, 546. — 161. rears. A.S. raeran, to cause to 
rise. The word in Chaucer, Speuser, Shakes., aud Milton, had a broader 
meaning than now. — shock. Old Dut. schock°, heap. pile. Akin to 
shake. — 163. maze. See on i, 20. — 165. with strong hand. Among 
the Highlanders, "so far was a hrengh, or foray, from being held dis- 
graceful, that a young chief was always expected to show his talents . . . 
by leading his clan . . . either against a neighboring sept . . . or against 
the Sassenach, Saxon, or Lowlanders. . . . The Gael . . . never forgot 
that the Lowlanders had . . . been the property of their Celtic fore- 
fathers." Scott.— 

173. ambuscade. Fr. embuscade, from Ital. imboscare ; from im, in, 
and bosco, bush, thicket. — 177. good faith. Lat. bona fide, in good 



CAXTO v.] THE COMBAT. 151 

Enough, I am by promise tied 

To match me with this man of pride : 

Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine's glen 

In peace ; but when I come again, 

I come with banner, brand, and bow, 190 

As leader seeks his mortal foe. 

For love-lorn swain in lady's bower 

Ne'er panted for the appointed hour, 

As I, until before me stand 

This rebel Chieftain and his band ! '^ 195 



IX. 

" Have then thy wish ! " — He whistled shrill, 

And he w^as answered from the hill ; 

Wild as the scream of the curlew. 

From crag to crag the signal flew. 

Instant, through copse and heath, arose 200 

Bonnets and spears and bended bows ; 

On right, on left, above, below, 

Sprung up at once the lurking foe ; 

From shingles gray their lances start, 

The bracken bush sends forth the dart, 205 

The rushes and the willow-wand 

Are bristling into axe and brand, 

And every tuft of broom gives life 

To plaided warrior armed for strife. 



faith. — 187. match me. Scott likes these reflexive forms. — 192. love- 
lorn. Lorn is an old participle from lose, meaning forsaken, lost, forlorn. 
— bower. See on i, 217. — 

195. MS. This dark Sir Roderick ) „„ . , .„ , „„ , 
This savage chieftain i ^°^ ^'^ ^^''^' 

The last tlie best ? — 

199. MS. From copse to copse the siprnal flew. 

Instant, through copse and crag arose. 

Bettered on second thou.s:ht? — 

198. curlew. Fr. coi-Ueii. Prohably an imitative word from the bird's 
cry, Skeat. So cuckoo, pewit, and other names of birds. — 204, shin- 
gles. Line 46. See iii, 171. — 

208. MS. And each lone tuft of broom {rives life 
To plated warrifir armed for strife. 
That whistle manned tlie lonely glen 
With full live hundred armed men. 



152 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO Y. 

That whistle garrisoned the glen 210 

At once with full five hundred men, 

As if the yawning hill to heaven 

A subterranean host had given. 

Watching their leader's beck and will, 

All silent there they stood and still, 215 

Like the loose crags whose threatening mass 

Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass, 

As if an infant's touch could urge 

Their headlong passage down the verge, 

With step and weapon forward flung, 220 

Upon the mountain-side they hung. 

The Mountaineer cast glance of pride 

Along Benledi's living side. 

Then fixed his eye and sable brow 

Full on Fitz- James : "How say' st thou now ? ^225 

These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true; 

And, Saxon, — I am Roderick Dhu ! " 



Fitz- James was brave : — though to his heart 

The life-blood thrilled with sudden start. 

He manned himself Avith dauntless air, 230 

Returned the Chief his haughty stare ; 

His back against a rock he bore, 

And firmly placed his foot before : — 

" Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly 

From its firm base as soon as I ! " 235 

Sir Roderick marked, — and in his eyes 

Respect was mingled with surprise 

Judgment displayed in the change? — 213. a subterranean host, etc. 
Of this whole passage, The Monthly Reviewer says, "We now come to the 
c?ief-d' (jeiivre of Walter Scott, — a scene of more vigor, nature, and anima- 
tion than any other in all his poetry." — In this connection, the sublime 
verses of Ezekiel, chap, xxxvii, 9, 10,"have been quoted. — 215. silent . . . 
still. Tautology? 

MS. All silent, too, they stood, and still. 

Watching- their leader's beck and will, 

While forwnrd step and weapon show 

They long to rush upon the foe 

Like the loose crag, whose tottering mass 

Hung threatening o'er the hollow pass. 

Improved ? — 219. verge. See iv, 83 ; v, 812. — 

230. manned = fortified ? rendered manly ? prepared for efficient 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. . 153 

And the stern jo}^ which warriors feel 

In I'oeiiian worthy of their steeL 

Short space he stood — then waved his hand: 240 

Down sunk the disappearing band ; 

Each warrior vanished where he stood, 

In broom or bracken, heath or wood ; 

Sunk brand and spear and bended bow. 

In osiers pale and copses low ; 245 

It seemed as if their mother Earth 

Had swallowed up her warlike birth. 

The wind's last breath had tossed in air 

Pennon and plaid and plumage fair, -^ 

The next but swept a lone hill-side, 260 

Where heath and fern were waving wide : 

The sun's last glance was glinted back 

From spear and glaive, from targe and jack, - 

The next, all unreflected, shone 

On bracken green and cold gray stone. 255 



XI. 

Fitz-James looked round, — yet scarce believed 

The witness that his sight received ; 

Such apparition well might seem 

Delusion of a dreadful dream. 

Sir Roderick in suspense he eyed, 260 

And to his look the Chief replied : 

" Fear naught — nay, that I need not say — 

But — doubt not aught from mine array. 



action? — " Theodosius manned his soul." Addison. — 238. joy, etc. See 
iv, 155. — 239. foeman. Many editions have /oemeji. Preference? — 
24(), 247. mother Earth . . . her warlike birth. Rolfe sees here an 
allusion ' to the old myths of the earth-born Giants and of Cadmus,' who 
sowed the serpent's teeth that sprang up armed men. Such allusion 
probable? — 252. glinted. Danish glindse, to shine; glint, a flash; 
Local S wed. .i7/i/?f«, to gleam; Dutch glinstpr, a glittering. — 253. glaive. 
See on iv, 150, 274. — jack. Defined by Nares, 'a horseman's defensive 
upper garment, quilted and covered with strong leather.' It was a cheap 
substitute for a coat of mail. This coat would seem to have had rings, 
bosses, or plates capable of glwting. Lyly's Euphues (a.d. 1579, 1580) 
speaks of ' Jackes' with 'plates of yron.' Scott's Eve of St. John men- 
tions his ' plate-jack.' — The 1st ed. reads lance, in line 253. Why changed ? 
257. witness = one who testifies? testimony? — See Mark, xiv, 56, 59. 
— 262. I need not say. Why not ? — 



154 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO Y. 

Thou art my guest ; — I pledged my word 

As far as Coilantogle ford : 265 

Nor would I call a clansman's brand 

Por aid against one valiant hand, 

Though on our strife lay every vale 

Rent by the Saxon from the Gael. 

So move we on ; — I only meant 270 

To show the reed on which you leant, 

Deeming this path you might pursue 

Without a pass from Roderick Dhu." 

They moved; — I said Fitz-James was brave 

As ever knight that belted glaive, 275 

Yet dare not say that now his blood 

Kept on its wont and tempered flood. 

As, following Roderick's stride, he drew 

That seeming lonesome pathway through, 

Which yet by fearful proof was rife 280 

With lances, that, to take his life. 

Waited but signal from a guide 

So late dishonored and defied. 

Ever, by stealth, his eye sought round 

The vanished guardians of the ground, 285 



267. MS. For aid against one hrave mail's hand. 

Why change it? — 268. lay = were wagered or staked? depended? — 
270. Scott affirms this incident to be founded on fact, and he telU the story 
of J )hn Gunii, a noted Highland robber, in Invei-ness-shire, who similarly 
conducted an English officer. At a little inn, the latter offered (xunn a 
portion of his supper, and requested his guidance. "He neither disguised 
his business nor his charge [specie for the payment of a garrison], nor his 
apprehensions of that celebrated freebooter, John Gunn. The Highlander 
hesitated a moment, and then frankly consented to be his guide to Inver- 
ness. Forth they set in the morning; and, in ti'avelling through a solitary 
and dreary glen, the discourse again turned on John Gunn. ' Would you 
like to see him?' said the guide; and, without waiting an answer to this 
alarming question, he whistled, and the English ofticer, with his small 
party, were [svc] surrounded l)y a body of Highlandei'S, whose numbers 
put resistance out of the question, and who were all well armed. 
'Stranger,' resumed the guide, '1 am that very John Gunn. ... I came 
to the inn last night with the express purpose of learning your route, 
that I and my followers might ease you of your charge by the i-oad. 
But I am incapable of betraying the trust you reposed in me.' . . . 
He then gave the officer directions for his journey, and disappeared 
with his party as suddenly as they had presented themselves." — See iv, 
780. — 277. wont. See i, 408; ii, 121. — flood. A.S.flowan, akin to Lat. 
fluere, to flow. — 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. lo5 

And still from copse and heather deep 

Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep, 

And in the plover's shrilly strain 

The signal whistle heard again. 

Nor breathed he free till far behind 290 

The pass was left; for then they wind 

Along a wide and level green, 

Where neither tree nor tuft was seen, 

Nor rush nor bush of broom was near, 

To hide a bonnet or a spear. 295 



XII. 

The Chief in silence strode before. 

And reached that torrent's soundino: shore. 

Which, daughter of three mighty lakes, 

From Yennachar in silver breaks, 

Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines, 300 

On Bochastle the mouldering lines, 

Where Eome, the Empress of the world. 

Of yore her eagle wings unfurled. 

And here his course the Chieftain stayed. 

Threw down his target and his plaid, 305 

And to the Lowland warrior said : 

" Bold Saxon ! to his promise just, 

286. MS. And still from copse and heather hush. 
Fancy saw spear and broadsword rush. 
Well ?— 

21>8, etc. three mighty lakes. Mighty ! — Meuu^chsiY, Achray, and 
Katrine, in length respectively, according to the gazetteers, 85. It. and 10 
miles! Lake Superior is 400 miles long, and, at one portion, KiO broad. — 
"The torrent . . . sweeps through a flat and extensive moor, called 
Bochastle. Upon a small eminence called the Ihin of Bochastle, and in- 
deed on the plain itself, ai'e some intrenchments which have been thought 
Roman. There is adjacent to Callendar a small villa . . . entitled the 
Roman camp." Scott. — "One of the most entire and beantiful remains 
of a Roman encampment now to be found in Scotland is to be seen at 
Arodch, near Greenloaning, about six miles to the eastward of Dunl lane. 
This encampment is supposed, on good antliority, to have been constructed 
during the 4th campaign of Agricola in Britain" (about 80 a.d.). Br. 
Graham. — 

301. MS. On Bochastle the martial lines. 

How better? — 303. eagle. As in the United States and in France nnder 
the Bonapartes, so the eagle was the national emblem on the standard of 



156 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO V. 

Vich-Alpine has discharged his trust. 

This murderous Chief, this ruthless mau, 

This head of a rebellious clan, aio 

Hath led thee safe, through watch and ward, 

Far past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard. 

Now, man to man, and steel to steel, 

A Chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel. 

See, here all vantageless I stand, 315 

Armed like thyself with single brand ; 

For this is Coilantogle ford. 

And thou must keep thee with thy sword." 



XIII. 

The Saxon paused : " I ne'er delayed, 

When foeman bade me draw my blade ; 320 

Nay more, brave Chief, I vowed thy death ; 

Yet sure thy fair and generous faith, 

And my deep debt for life preserved, 

A better meed have well deserved : 

Can naught but blood our feud atone ? .325 

Are there no means ? '^ — " No, stranger, none ! 

And hear, — to fire thy flagging zeal, — 

The Saxon cause rests on thy steel ; 

For thus spoke Fate by proj^het bred 

Between the living and the dead : 330 

'Who spills the foremost foeman's life. 

His party conquers in the strife.' " 

" Then, by my word ! " the Saxon said, 

'•The riddle is already read. 

Seek yonder brake beneath the cliff, — 335 

There lies Eed Murdoch, stark and stiff. 

ancient Rome. — 309. murderous Chief, etc. See lines 10f)-109. — 
315. vantageless. " The duellists of former times did not always stand 
upon those punctilios respecting equality of arms, which are now judged 
essential to fair combat. . . . Those who were most jealous of the point 
of honor . . . did not scruple to take every advantage of strength, numbers, 
surprise, and arms, to accomplish their revenge. ... I have chosen to 
give my heroes, who are indeed of an earlier period, a stronger tincture of 
the spirit of chivalry." Scott. — 

329. by prophet bred. See the passage beginning iii, 91; iv, 124, 
125. — 334. A. S. ntecZcm, to advise; discern, interpret. — See on vi, 783. — 
already read? Happy phrase? — 336. stark. A.^.stearc; Gex. stark, 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 167 

Thus Fate hath solved her prophecy ; 

Then yield to Fate and not to me. 

To James at Stirling let us go, 

When, if thou wilt be still his foe, 340 

Or if the King shall not agree 

To grant thee grace and favor free, 

I plight mine honor, oath, and word 

That, to thy native strengths restored, 

With each advantage shalt thou stand 345 

That aids thee now to guard thy land." 

XIV. 

Dark lightning flashed from Roderick's eye : 

" Soars thy presumption, then, so high. 

Because a wretched kern ye slew, 

Homage to name to Roderick Dhu? 350 

He yields not, he, to man nor Fate ! 

Thou add'st but fuel to my hate ; — 

My clansman's blood demands revenge. 

Not yet prepared ? — By heaven ! I change 

My thought, and hold thy valor light 355 

As that of some vain carpet knight, 

Who ill deserved my courteous care. 

And whose best boast is but to wear 

A braid of his fair lady's hair." 

" I thank thee, Roderick, for the word ! 360 

It nerves my heart, it steels my sword ; 

For I have sworn this braid to stain 

In the best blood that warms thy vein. 

Now, Truce, farewell ! and, Ruth, begone ! — 

stiff, strong, rigid. Like ' time and tide,' ' might and main,' so Shakes, uses 
'stark and stiff,' 1 Henjy IV, V, iii, 40; Rom. & Jul., IV, i, 103. — See 
line 572. — 

34T. MS. In lightning flashed the chief s dark eye. 

— Bettered? — What image is conveyed by the expression 'dark liglit- 
ning ' ? — 349. kern. See^iv, 73, 393. — 

351. MS. He stoops not, he, to James nor Fate. 

— Wise change? — 356. carpet knight. The idea is Shakespearian, 
Twelfth Night, III, iv, 223, 224, "Knight dubbed with unhatehed [un- 
backed] rapier and on carpet consideration." — 3(i4. Ruth. i?ue = to 
grieve for, be sorry for. Langland, Cliaucer, Spenser, and Milton use 
ruth in the sense of compassion. — Obsolete noAv? — See ii, 630. — A.S- 



158 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

Yet think not that by thee alone, 365 

Proud Chief ! can courtesy be shown ; 

Thou^li not from copse, or heath, or cairn, 

Start at my whistle clansmen stern, 

Of this small horn one feeble bl ist 

Woukl fearful odds against thee cast. 370 

But fear not — doubt not — which thou wilt — 

We try this quarrel hilt to hilt." 

Then each at once bis falchion drew, 

Each on the ground his scabbard threw. 

Each looked to sun and stream and plain ' 375 

As what they ne'er might see again ; 

Then foot and point and eye opposed. 

In dubious strife they darkly closed. 



XV. 

Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, 

That on the field his targe he threw, 380 

Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide 

Had death so often dashed aside ; 

For, trained abroad his arms to wield, 

Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield. 

He practised every pass and ward, 385 

To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard ; 

While less expert, though stronger far, 

The Gael maintained unequal war. 

/treoioan, to pity. — ' i?i/^/i' is formed like truth. — 378. "The two princi- 
pal figures are contrasted with uncommon felicity." Quarterly Review, 
1810. Picture them by words; by pencil! — 

380. his targe. Seei, 5i6; iii, 415. "A round target of light wood, 
covered with strong leather, and studded with brass or iron, was a neces- 
sary part of a Highlander's equipment. In charging regular troops, they 
received the thrust of the bayonet in this buckler, twisted it aside, and 
used the broadsword against the encumbered soldier. In the civil war of 
1745, most of the front rank of the clans were thus armed." Scott. — 
383. abroad. He spent some time in France, where he married tAvice. 
The Italian fencing-masters were the best teachers of sword practice, and 
Paris was favored with their presence. Our fencing terms are largely 
Italian. — 385. ward = posture of defence [Rolf e], guarding or defensive 
mf)tion or position [Web. Int. Diet.]? — See i, 38; ii, 373. — 386. feint. 
Liiit. fingere ; YY.fpindre, to pretend falsely; fehite, a mock blow or mock 
attack on one part when another part is really meant to be hit. — 

887. MS. Not Roderick thus thonph stronger far. 
More tall, and more inured to war. 



CAXTO v.] THE COMBAT. 159 

Three times in closing strife they stood, 

And tlirice the Saxon bLide drank blood; 390 

No stinted draught, no scanty tide, 

The gushing flood tlie tartans dyed. 

Fierce Roderick felt tlie fatal drain, 

And showered his blows like wintry rain ; 

And, as firm rock or castle-roof 395 

Ao^ainst the winter shower is proof, 

The foe, invulnerable still, 

Foiled his wild rage by steady skill ; 

Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand 

Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand, 400 

And backward borne upon the lea, 

Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee ! 



XVI. 

" Now yield thee, or by Him who made 

The world, tby heart's blood dyes my blade ! " 

^'Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy ! 405 

Let recreant yield, who fears to die." 

Like adder darting from his coil. 

Like wolf that dashes through the toil. 

Like mountain-cat who guards her young. 

Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung ; 410 

Received, but recked not of a wound. 

And locked his arms his foeman round. — 

Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own ! 

No maiden's hand is round thee thrown ! 

That desperate grasp thy frame might feel 415 

Through bars of brass and triple steel ! 

They tug, they strain ! down, down they go ! 

The Gael above, Fitz-James below! 

The Chieftain's gripe his throat compressed, 

His knee was planted on his breast ; 420 

Essentially bettered?— 401, 402. These lines are not in the MS. Worth 
inserting? — lea. See on ii, 17(5. Nothing to do with leef — 

405,401). This couplet is not in the MS.; but the MS. has, 'Yield they 
alone who fear to die.' — In this connection Scott illustrates the fierceness 
of these hand-to-hand conflicts by citing the story of Sir Ewan Lochiel's 
biting out a piece of an English officer's throat! — 413. hold thine otnii 
= hold what belongs to thee ? hold thy present position ? do not lose 



160 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CANTO \. 

His clotted locks he backward threw, 

Across his brow his hand he drew, 

From blood and mist to clear his sight, 

Then gleamed aloft his dagger bright ! 

But hate and fury ill supplied 425 

The stream of life's exhausted tide, 

And all too late, the advantage came 

To turn the odds of deadly game ; 

For, while the dagger gleamed on high, 

Reeled soul and sense, reeled brain and eye. 4^0 

Down came the blow ! but in the heath 

The erring. blade found bloodless sheath. 

The struggling foe may now unclasp 

The fainting Chief's relaxing grasp ; 

Unwounded from the dreadful close, 435 

But breathless all, Fitz-James arose. 



XVII. 

He faltered thanks to Heaven for life, 

Redeemed, unhoped, from desperate strife ; 

Next on his foe his look he cast. 

Whose every gasp appeared his last ; 440 

In Roderick's gore he dipped the braid, — 

" Poor Blanche ! thy wrongs are dearly paid ; 

Yet with thy foe must die, or live, 

The praise that faith and valor give." 

With that he blew a bugle note, 445 

Undid the collar from his throat, 

Unbonneted, and by the wave 

Sat down his brow and hands to lave. 



ground? — 424. dagger. The only weapon lie had left? — 435. close = 
end? grapple? 

MS. Panting and breathless on the sands. 
But all unwounded noio he stands. 
438. MS. Eedeemed, unhoped, from deadly strife ; 

Next on his foe his look he - /^lgj„ 

Whose every breath appeared his last. 

— 447. unbonneted = being Avithout a bonnet on his head? put off his 
bonnet? See ii, 345. — 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 161 

Then faint afar are heard the feet 
Of rushing steeds in gallop fleet ; 450 

The sounds increase, and now are seen 
Four mounted squires in Lincoln green ; 
Two who bear lance, and two who lead 
By loosened rein a saddled steed ; 
Each onward held his headlong course, 455 

And by Fitz-James reined up his horse, — 
With wonder viewed the bloody spot, — 
"Exclaim not, gallants! question not. — 
You, Herbert and Luffness, alight. 
And bind the wounds of yonder knight ; 460 

Let the gray palfrey bear his weight. 
We destined for a fairer freight. 
And bring him on to Stirling straight ; 
I will before at better speed, 

To seek fresh horse and fitting weed. 465 

* The sun rides high ; — I must be boune 
To see the archer-game at noon ; 
But lightly Bayard clears the lea. — 
De Vaux and Herries, follow me. 



XVIII. 

"Stand, Bayard, stand ! " — the steed obeyed, 470 

With arching neck and bended head, 

And glancing e3'e and quivering ear, 

As if he loved his lord to hear. 

No foot Fitz-James in stirrup stayed, 

No grasp upon the saddle laid, 475 

But wreathed his left hand in the mane, 

And lightly bounded from the plain. 

Turned on the horse his armed heel, 

And stirred his courage with the steel. 

449. MS. Faint and afar are heard the feet. 

— Really bettered?— 450. fleet =^ fly swiftly? hasten? swift?— 452. Lin- 
coln green. See i, 464. — squires. Lat. scutum, a shield; sciUarius, a 
shield-bearer; Old Fr. escu ; Fr. ecu, a shield ; whence comes escutcheon. 
Squire is shortened from esquire. Every knight had an attendant called 
'squire.' — Present use of the word? — 462. destined. See iv, 411, 412. 

— 465. weed. See on iv, 506.— 466. boune. See iv, 36, 157; vi, 3%. — 
479. steel. See i, 115. — 485. Carhonie's. About a mile from the E. 



162 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

Bounded the fiery steed in air, 480 

The rider sat erect and fair, 

Then like a bolt from steel crossbow 

Forth launch ei, along the plain they go. 

They dashed that ra])id torrent through, 

And up Carhonie's hill they flew; 485 

Still at the gallop pricked the Knight, 

His merryraen followed as they might. 

Along thy banks, swift Teith! they ride, 

And in the race they mock thy tide ; 

Torry and Lendrick now are past, 490 

And Deanstown lies behind them cast ; 

They rise, the bannered towers of Doune, 

They sink in distant woodland soon ; 

Blair-Drummond sees the hoofs strike fire. 

They sweep like breeze through Ochtertyre; 495 

They mark just glance and disappear 

The lofty brow of ancient Kier ; 

They bathe their coursers' sweltering sides, 

Dark Forth ! amid thy sluggish tides. 

And on the opposing shore take ground, 500 

With plash, with scramble, and with bound. 

Eight-hand they leave thy cliffs, Craig-Forth ! 

And soon the bulwark of the IS'orth, 

Gray Stirling, with her towers and town, 

Upon their fleet career looked down. 505 

SIX, 

As up the flinty path they strained, 
Sudden his steed the leader reined ; 

end of Loch Vennachar. — 48B. pricked = spurred forward ? — 487. merry- 
men = retainers? followers? — The word is said to be obsolete. — 
48!). mock. The poets will have it that rivers are swift, as Vergil and 
Milton characterize the Hebrus! — 490. "The poet marks in succession 
places familiar and dear to his own early recollections." Lockhart. — 
Torry, Lendrick, Deanstown, Doune, Blair-Drummond, Ochtertyre, and 
Kier, are on the Teith between Callander and Stirling. — 

494. MS. Blair-Drummond saw their hoofs o/fire. 

See map. — 502. Craig-Forth, 'almost under the walls of Stirling Cas- 
tle.' — "All hospitable roofs, under which he had spent many of his 
younger days." Lockhart. — 504. See ii, 679; v, 27. 

506. MS. As up the steepy path they strained. 



CAXTO v.] THE COMBAT. 163 

A signal to his squire he flung, 
Who instint to bis stirrup sprung: — 
" S'^est thou, De Vaux, yon woodsman gray, 510 

Who townward holds the rocky way, 
Of stature tall and poor array ? 
Mark'st thou the firm, yet active stride, 
With wliich he scales the mountain-side ? 
Kiiow'st thou from whence he comes, or whom ? " 515 

" No, by my word ; — a burly groom 
He seems, who in the field or chase 
A baron's train would nobly grace — " 
'•Out, out, De Vaux ! can fear supply, 
And jealousy, no sharper eye ? 520 

Afar, ere to the hill he drew, 
That stately form and step I knew; 
Like form in Scotland is not seen, 
Treads not such step on Scottish green. 
t'Tis James of Douglas, by Saint Serle ! 525 

The uncle of the banished Earl. 
Away, away, to court, to show 
The near approach of dreaded foe : 
The King must stand upon his guard ; 
Douglas and he must meet prepared." 530 

Then right-hand wheeled their steeds, and straight 
They won the Castle's postern gate. 



XX. 



The Douglas, who had bent his way 
From Cambus keimetli's abbey gray, 



— Improved on rewriting? — 515. or ^vholn. Supply the omitted word 
or words. — 516. burly. Scotch hidrcVy, strong: Icel. Mn'thr, strength; 
Old Ger. hurl'ih, high. — 525. Saint Serle. ''That unhappy couplet, 
where the King himself is in such distress for a rhyme as to be obliged 
to apply to one of the obscurest saints in the calendar." Jeffrey in the 
Edinburgh Review. — Other marks of haste in this poem ? — 

MS. 'Tis James of Douglas, by my uwrd 
The uncle of the banished Lord. 

Better? — 529,530. Rhyme? — upon his guard. "A needless device to 
keep the secret." Taylor. But is that the true meaning? — 532. postern. 
Lat. pofif, after, behind ; po.'<terus. in the rear. — 

534. Cambus-kenneth's abbey. See iv, 231. — Syriac «&&«, father; 



164 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

Now, as lie climbed the rocky shelf, 535 

Held sad communion with himself: — 

"Yes! all is true my fears could frame; 

A prisoner lies the noble Graeme, 

And fiery Roderick soon will feel 

The vengeance of the royal steel. 540 

I, only I, can ward their fate, — 

God grant the ransom come not late ! 

The Abbess hath her promise given, 

My child shall be the bride of Heaven; — 

Be pardoned one repining tear ! 545 

For He who gave her knows how dear, 

How excellent ! — but that is by. 

And now my business is — to die ! — 

Ye towers ! within whose circuit dread 

A Douglas by his sovereign bled ; 550 

And thou, sad and fatal mound ! 

That oft hast heard the death-axe sound, % 

As on the noblest of the land 

Fell the stern headsman's bloody hand, — 

The dungeon, block, and nameless tomb 555 

Prepare — for Douglas seeks his doom ! 

But hark ! what blithe and jolly peal 

Makes the Franciscan steeple reel ? 

And see ! upon the crowded street, 

In motley groups what masquers meet ! 560 

Banner and pageant, pipe and drum. 

And merry morrice-dancers come. 

Eng. abbot, an ecclesiastical 'father,' chief of an abbey. — 544. bride of 
Heaven = a lady who has * taken the veil ' ? — 547. by = past? gone by? 

— See on line 15. — 550. a Douglas. William, 8th earl of Douglas, whom 
James II stabbed with his own hand in Stirling Castle, Jan. 15, 1452. His 
skeleton is supposed to have been dug up in 1797 in the adjoining garden. 

— 551. fatal mound. " An eminence," says Scott, " on the northeast of 
the Castle, where state criminals were executed." — 558. Franciscan. 
Belonging to the order of Franciscan monks, called Gray Friars. The 
order was founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi. They were bound to 
perpetual poverty. The Grayfriars' Church was built 'by James IV in 
1494 on the slope of the Castle Rock. James VI was crowned here in 
July, 15()7, John Knox preaching the coronation sermon. — 502. morrice- 
dancers. Span. nioHsco, Moorish. Tlie morisco or Moorish dance, prob- 
ably the Spanish ' fandango,' was extremely popular on festive occasions, 
especially when it was combined with the national May-day pageant. This 
combination required five characters to be personated by persons curiously 
disguised in silk vestments with bells on the ankles — 'Robin Hood, Maid 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 165 

I guess, by all this quaint array, 

The burghers hold their sports to-day. 

James will be there; he loves such show, 5(>5 

Where the good yeoman bends his bow, 

And the tough wrestler foils his foe, 

As well as where, in proud career. 

The high-born tilter shivers spear. 

I'll follow to the Castle-park, 570 

And play my prize ; — King James shall mark 

If age has tamed these sinews stark. 

Whose force so oft in happier days 

His boyish wonder loved to praise." 



XXI. 

The Castle gates were open flung, 575 

The quivering drawbridge rocked and rung, 

And echoed loud the flinty street 

Beneath the coursers' clattering feet, 

As slowly down the steep descent 

Fair Scotland's King and nobles went, 580 

AVhile all along the crowded way 

Was jubilee and loud huzza. 

And ever James was bending low 

To his white jennet's saddle-bow, 

Doffing his cap to city dame, 585 

Who smiled and blushed for pride and shame. 

Marian, Friar Tuck, a minstrel, a clown ; afterwards a hobby-horse and 
a dragon. The dance was seen in London as late as 1826. — 5t)4. burgh- 
ers = free citizens of the burgh or borough. " Every burgh of Scotland 
of the least note, but more especially the considerable toAvns, had their 
solemn p^a?/ or festival, when feats of archery were exhibited, and prizes 
distributed to those who excelled in wrestling, hurling the bar, and the 
other gymnastic exercises of the period. . . . James V was very partial 
to them." Sco^^ — 569. tilter = mounted champion? — 571. play my 
prize. The phrase is Shakespearian. "You have played your prize," 
Timon of Athens. — 572. stark. See on 336. 

575. Castle gates = gates of the main entrance? — 581, 582. How 
about rhyme ? 

5S0. MS. King James and all his nobles went. . . . 
Ever the king was bendinp low 
To his white jennet's saddle-bow, 
Doffine: his cap to burgher dame 
IVlio smiling blushed for jnide and shame. 

— Inferior? — 584. jennet = genet, a small Spanish horse. Span. (/me?e, 
ahorse; horseman, or light horse soldier. — 585. doffing. i>q^'=dooff; 



166 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

And well the simperer might be vain, — 

He chose the fairest of the train. 

Gravely he greets each city sire, 

Commends each pageant's quaint attire, 590 

Gives to the dancers thanks aloud. 

And smiles and nods upon the crowd, 

Who rend the heavens with their acclaims, — 

" Long live the Commons' King, King James ! " 

Behind the King thronged peer and knight, 595 

And noble dame and damsel bright, 

Whose fiery steeds ill brooked the stay 

Of the steep street and crowded way. 

But in the train you might discern 

Dark lowering brow and visage stern ; 600 

There nobles mourned their pride restrained. 

And the mean burgher's joys disdained ; 

And chiefs, who, hostage for their clan. 

Were each from home a banished man, 

There thought upon their own gray tower, 605 

Their waving woods, their feudal power, 

And deemed themselves a shameful part 

Of pageant which they cursed in heart. 

XXII. 

Now, in the Castle-park, drew out 

Their checkered bands the jo^^ous rout. 610 

as don — do on ; and old chip = do up. — 594. Commons' King. " James 
had done what was done by Henry VII in England and by Louis XI in 
France; that is, had striven to check the lawless power of the nobles, 
and had sought the alliance of the commons, or people of the town." 
Taylor. — 

601. MS. Nobles who mourned their pojwer restrained, 
And the poor burgher's joys disdained ; 
Dark chief, lolio, hostage for his clan. 
Was /rom his home a banished man, 
Who thought upon his own gray tower. 
The waving woods, his feudal bower. 
And deemed himself a, shameful part 
Of pageant that he cursed in heart. 

Has Scott improved upon this? How about the syntax of chiefs . . . 
were each . . . a banished man? — (JOG. feudal pow^er = power to 
command the military service of tenants? Thefpud or ^/j^/" was land held 
by a tenant wlio was obliged to render service to his lord, the latter being 
obliged to protect him. — (iOS. pageant. Late Lat, pagina; Old Eng. 
pageant, a platform, staging, scaffold. — 

610. checkered bands = groups dressed in various colors? — Is 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 167 

There morricers, with bell at heel 

And blade in hand, their mazes wheel; 

But chief, beside the butts, there stand 

Bold Robin Hood and all his band, — 

Friar Tuck with qiiarterstaff and cowl, 615 

Old Scathelocke with his surly scowl, 

Maid Marian, fair as ivory bone, 

Scarlet, and Mutch, and Little John ; 

Their bugles challenge all that will, 

In archery to prove their skill. 620 

The Douglas bent a bow of might, — 

His first shaft centred in the white. 

And when in turn he shot again. 

His second split the first in twain. 

From the King's hand must Douglas take 625 

A silver dart, the archers' stake ; 

Fondly he watched, with watery eye. 

Some answering glance of sympathy, — 

No kind emotion made reply ! 

Indifferent as to archer wight, 630 

The monarch gave the arrow bright. 

'bands ' subject or object of ' drew ' ? — See on ii, 343. — rout. See i, 67. 

— 611. bells. Twenty to forty on each leg! — ' 

612. MS. ' With awkward stride there city groom 
Would part of fabled knight assume.' 

— maze. See i, 20. — 613. butts. Fr. hut, thing aimed at, mark, tar- 
get; hiLtte, knoll or rising ground on which the target was placed. — 
614. Robin Hood. See note on 7^Q2. — This renowned outlaw lived in 
the time of Richard I, about 1190. See Scott's Ivanhoe. — 615. quarter- 
staff. Long and stout staff, offensive and defensive. So called because 
held with one hand in the middle, and the other between the middle and 
the end. Int. Diet. — cowl. A.S. cufle ; Lat. cucuUus, a hood. — 
615-618. The persons mentioned were companions of Robin Hood. — Ben 
Jonson, in his Sad Shepherd, affords a thoroughly poetical version of the 
national May -day pageant. — 626. stake. A^S. staca, the origin of stick. 
'To stake' is to wager. — The games that Scott describes are somewhat 
like the funeral games for Patroclus in the Iliad, and for Anchises, in the 
^neid. See also Odyssey, viii, and The Light of Asia. — 

627. MS. Fondly he watched, with watery eye, 
For answering glance of sj-mpathy, — 
But no emotion made rei)l\-! 
Indifferent as to M??X*??r)?t'?i ( . ,. 
Cold a.s to unknown yeoman p^^o*^''> 
The King gave forth the arrow bright. — 

Improved? — 630. archer wight = archer creature, ordinary archer? — 
For wight, see on aught, ii,529. — "The Douglas of the poemis an imag- 



168 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 



XXIII. 

Now, clear the ring ! for, hand to hand. 

The manly wrestlers take their stand. 

Two o'er the rest superior rose. 

And proud demanded mightier foes, — G35 

Nor called in vain, for Douglas came. — 

For life is Hugh of Larbert lame ! 

Scarce better John of Alloa's fare. 

Whom senseless home his comrades bare ! 

Prize of the wrestling match, the King 640 

To Douglas gave a golden ring, 

While coldly glanced his eye of blue, 

As frozen drop of wintry dew. 

Douglas would speak, but in his breast 

His struggling soul his words suppressed ; 645 

Indignant then he turned him where 

Their arms the brawny yeomen bare. 

To hurl the massive bar in air. 

When each his utmost strength had shown. 

The Douglas rent an earth-fast stone 650 

From its deep bed, then heaved it high. 

And sent the fragment through the sky 

A rood beyond the farthest mark ; 

And still in Stirling's royal park, 

The gray-haired sires, who know the past, 655 

To strangers point the Douglas cast. 



inary person, a supposed uncle of the Earl of Angus. But the King's 
behavior ... is imitated from a real story of what occurred during an 
unexpected interview with . . . one of the banished Douglases . . . Archibald 
of Kilspindie, whom he, when he was a child, loved singularly well for 
his ability of body, and was wont to call him liis 'Gray-Steill.' " Scott. 
Gray-Steill was a champion of popular romance. — 

637. for life is Hugh of Larbert lame. " Lord Jeffrey objects to 
this expression as intolerable." Taylor. Is it very objectionable? — For 
wrestling, see ^4.s You Like It, I, ii. — Larbert is 10 m. S. of Sterling. 
Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, is buried in its church. — 638. Alloa is 
about 7 m. E. of Sterling, and on the N. side of the Forth. — 641. golden 
ring. "The usual prize of a wrestling was a ram and a ring,^ but the 
animal would have embarrassed my stoi-y." Scott. How? — 648. to hurl, 
etc. See iv, 559; v, 564. — 657. moralize = make moral reflections? 

1 The prize in Chaucer ( Coke's Tale of Gamelyn) is the same. 



I 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 169 

And moralize on the decay 

Of Scottish strength in modern day. 

XXIV. 

The vale with loud applauses rang, 

The Ladies' Rock sent back the clang. G60 

The King, with look unmoved, bestowed 

A purse well filled with pieces broad. 

Indignant smiled the Douglas proud, 

And threw the gold among the crowd, 

Who now with anxious wonder scan, 665 

And sharper glance, the dark gray man ; 

Till whispers rose among the throng, 

That heart so free, and hand so strong, 

Must to the Douglas blood belong. 

The old men marked and shook the head, 670 

To see his hair with silver spread. 

And winked aside, and told each son 

Of feats upon the English done. 

Ere Douglas of the stalwart hand 

Was exiled from his native land. 675 

The women praised his stately form, 

Though wrecked by many a winter's storm ; 

The youth with awe and wonder saw 

His strength surpassing Nature's law. 

Thus judged, as is their wont, the crowd, 680 

Til] murmurs rose to clamors loud. 

But not a glance from that proud ring 

Of peers who circled round the King 

With Douglas held communion kind. 

Or called the banished man to mind ; 685 

teach lessons of wisdom? — 658. So old Nestor, in Iliad, i, 262-272; also 
Iliad, V, o02-304; xil, 447-449; and the last j)art of xxxiii ; Vergil's ^ueid, 
xii, 899, etc. 

MS. Of mortal strength in modern day. — 

660. Ladies' Rock. In the ' valley ' between the Castle and the 
Grayfriars' Church was a hillock from which the court ladies viewed the 
games. — 662. MS. — *' A purse iveigh'd doivn with pieces broad." Equally 
good? — 664. MS. — " Scattered the gold among the crowd." Improved? 
— 674. MS. — "Ere James of Douglas' stalwart hand." Bettered? — 
677. The MS. has 'worn.' As good as lorecked? — 681. Some editions 
haA'e 'murmur.' Criticise. — 6<So. MS. — "Or called his stately form to 
mind." — 684. held = occupied? regarded . . . as? entered into? — 



170 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [ CAN TO X. 

No, not from those who at the chase 

Once held his side the honored place, 

Begirt his board, and in the field 

Found safety underneath his shield ; 

For he whom royal eyes disown, 690 

When was his form to courtiers known ! 



XXV. 

The Monarch saw the gambols flag, 

And bade let loose a gallant stag, 

Whose pride, the holiday to crown, 

Two favorite greyhounds should pull down, 695 

That venison free and Bordeaux wine 

Might serve the archery to dine. 

But Luf ra, — whom from Douglas' side 

Nor bribe nor threat could e'er divide. 

The fleetest hound in all the North, — 700 

Brave Lufra saw, and darted forth. 

She left the royal hounds midway. 

And dashing on the antlered prey, 

Sunk her sharp muzzle in his flank, 

And deep the flowing life-blood drank. 705 

The King's stout huntsman saw the sport 

By strange intruder broken short, 

Came up, and, with his leash unbound. 

In anger struck the noble hound. 

The Douglas had endured, that morn, 710 

The King's cold look, the nobles' scorn, 

And last, and worst to spirit proud. 

Had borne the pity of the crowd ; 

But Lufra had laeen fondly bred. 

To share his board, to watch his' bed, 715 

And oft would Ellen Lufra's neck 

In maiden glee with garlands deck; 

They were such playmates that with name 

Of Lufra Ellen's image came. 



692. gambols. Lat. qamha, lower part of leg; hoof or joint; Ital. 
gamba,\Qg; gnmbata,'k\ck; Fr. jambe, leg. — 698. Lufra. Scott dearly 
loved dogs. " See i, 120; iii, 394. — 708. leash. See iv, 746. — Lat. laza. 



CAXTO v.] THE COMBAT. 171 

His stifled wrath is brimming high, 720 

In darkened brow and flashing eye ; 

As waves before the bark divide, 

The crowd gave way before his stride ; 

Needs but a buffet and no more, 

The groom lies senseless in his gore. 725 

Such blow no other hand could deal, 

Though gauntleted in glove of steel. 



XXVI. 

Then clamored loud the royal train, 

And brandished swords and staves amain. 

But stern the Baron's warning : " Back ! 730 

Back, on your lives, ye menial pack ! 

Beware the Douglas ! — Yes ! behold. 

King James ! The Douglas, doomed of old. 

And vainly sought for near and far, 

A victim to atone the war, 735 

A willing victim now attends, 

ISTor craves thy grace but for his friends. — " 

"Thus is my clemency repaid ? 

Presumptuous Lord ! " the Monarch said : 

" Of thy misproud ambitious clan, 740 

Thou, James of Bothwell, wert the man, 

The only man, in whom a foe 

My woman-mercy would not know ; 

But shall a Monarch's presence brook 

Injurious blow and haughty look ? — 745 



loose, a string loosely held; Fr. laisse, a string, a thong of leather, or 
long cord. — 724. needs but a buffet and no more. Tantology ? — 

723. MS. Clamored ^ts comrae^es o/ the train. 

Improvement ? — 729. staves. Staves or staves? — A.S. staef, staif. — 
730. MS. has 'warrior's' for Baron'' s. Improved? — Poets are fond of 
titles? — 735. atone. See on iv, 421. — 73.S. clemency. What clemency? 
— 740. misproud = viciously prond \Int. Diet.] '? mistakenly proud 
[Ginn]? — Shakes, uses the word in 5 H'^nry VI, II, vi, 7, 'strengthening 
misprovxl York.' — 741. Bothwell. See on ii, 141, 142. — 741, 742, 743. iii 
whom, etc. Turn these three lines into prose, supplying the omitted 
words. — 

744. MS. But inmy court. \n]\\\'wnf^h\o\y. 

And bearded thus, and thus out dared f 

What ho I the Captaia of our Guard I 



172 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

What ho ! the Captain of our Guard ! 

Give the offender fitting ward. — 

Break off the sports ! " — for tumult rose, 

And yeomen 'gan to bend their bows, — 

'' Break off the sports ! " he said and frowned, 750 

" And bid our horsemen clear the ground." 



XXVII. 

Then uproar wild and misarray 

Marred the fair form of festal day. 

The horsemen pricked among the crowd, 

Repelled by threats and insult loud ; 755 

To earth are borne the old and weak, 

The timorous fly, the women shriek ; 

With flint, with shaft, with staff, with bar, 

The hardier urge tumultuous war. 

At once round Douglas darkly sweep 760 

The ro3^al spears in circle deep. 

And slowly scale the pathway steep, 

While on the rear in thunder pour 

The rabble with disordered roar. 

With grief the noble Douglas saw 765 

The Commons rise against the law, 

And to the leading soldier said : 

'" Sir John of Hyndford, 'twas my blade 

That knighthood on thy shoulder laid ; 

For that good deed permit me then 770 

A word with these misguided men. — 



747. ward. " He put them in ward," Genesis, xl, 3. — 
752. misarray. Mis- is either from A.S. niisian, to miss, err, or Lat. 
minus, less. — 754. pricked. See line 486. — 755. MS. — 'Their threats 
repelled by insult loud.' — 768. Hyndford. A village on the Clyde, 3 or 
4 ra. S.E. of Lanark. — 769. knighthood. The candidate prepared him- 
self by prayer, fasting, watching his arms at night in a chapel, and by 
other religious ceremonies. . . . Knighthood was conferred by tlie sover- 
eign, or superior lord, by a blow of the flat of a sword upon the back of 
the shoulder of the kneeling candidate. Thenceforward he is addressed 
with the title. Sir. In feudal times, the knight was clad in armor from 
head to foot, mounted on horseback, and attended by his squire. His 
oath bound him to live a chaste life, to maintain the right, to succor the 
distressed, and to be the especial champion of ladies against cruel oppres- 
sors. See on i, 18, 475, 532 ; iv, 665, 746-758. — 



CAXTO v.] THE COMBAT. 173 



XXVIII. 

" Hear, gentle friends, ere yet for me 

Ye break the bands of fealty. 

My life, my honor, and my cause, 

I tender free to Scotland's laws. 775 

Are these so weak as must require 

The aid of your misguided ire ? 

Or if I suffer causeless wrong. 

Is then my seltish rage so strong, 

My sense of public weal so low, 780 

That, for mean vengeance on a foe. 

Those cords of love I should unbind 

Which knit my country and my kind ? 

no ! Believe, in yonder tower 

It will not soothe my captive hour, 785 

To know those spears our foes should dread 

For me in kindred gore are red : 

To know, in fruitless brawl begun. 

For me that mother wails her son, 

For me that widow^'s mate expires, 790 

For me that orphans weep their sires. 

That patriots mourn insulted laws, 

And curse the Douglas for the cause. 

let your patience ward such ill, 

And keep your right to love me still ! " 795 

XXIX. 

The crowd's wild fury sunk again 
In tears, as tempests melt in rain. 
With lifted hands and eyes, they prayed 
For blessings on his generous head 



773. fealty. Lat. ./?r7r/?7n.s ,• Old Yy. fcalte, fidelity, faith, loyalty.— 
790. -widow's mate = Avidow's husband? But she is not a widow tiU he 
expiresi What is proh'psis iu rhetoric? — 791. ward. Properly used 
without off? — 

796. MS. The crowd's wild fury ehh'd amain 
In tears, as tempests' drink in rain. 

Mixed metaphor? Shakes, uses repeatedly this figure of the tempest 
and rain. — So Tennyson's "Like summer tempest came her tears," The 



174 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO V. 

AVho for his country felt alone, 800 

And prized her blood beyond his own. 

Old men upon the verge of life 

Blessed him who stayed the civil strife; 

And mothers held their babes on high, 

The self-devoted Chief to spy, 805 

Triumphant over wrongs and ire, 

To whom the prattlers owed a sire. 

Even the rough soldier's heart was moved ; 

As if behind some bier beloved, 

With trailing arms and drooping head, 810 

The Douglas up the hill he led. 

And at the Castle's battled verge, 

With sighs resigned his honored charge. 



XXX. 

The offended Monarch rode apart 

With bitter thought and swelling heart, 815 

And would not now vouchsafe again 

Through Stirling streets to lead his train. 

'' Lennox, who would wish to rule 

This changeling crowd, this common fool ? 

Hear'st thou," he said, " the loud acclaim 820 

With which they shout the Douglas name? 

With like acclaim the vulgar throat 

Strained for King James their morning note ; 

With like acclaim they hailed the day 

AVhen first I broke the Douglas sway ; 825 

And like acclaim would Douglas greet 

If he could hurl me from my seat. 

Who o'er the herd would wish to reign, 

Fantastic, ficklt^, fierce, and vain ? 

Vain as the leaf upon the stream, 830 

And fickle as a changeful dream ; 



Princess.— %0>i. roii,i;li soldier's. Which ? — 812, 81o. Rhyme ? — verge. 
See on iv, 83. — battled = battlemented? — See i, 199; ii, 702; vi, 7.— 

819. coiiiinoii fool. Shakespeare often expresses his disgnst at the 
folly and fickleness of the common people. — 821. Douglas. Some print 
Douglas'. Preferable? — 830. MS. Vain &.s the sick man's idle dream.-— 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 175 

Fantastic as a woman's mood, 

And fierce as Frenzy's fevered blood. 

Thou many-headed monster-thing, 

O who would wish to be thy king ? — 835 



XXXI. 

"But soft ! wli^it messenger of speed 

Spurs hitherward his panting steed ? 

I guess his cognizance afar — 

What from our cousin, John of Mar ? " 

" He prays, my liege, your sports keep bound 840 

Within the safe and guarded ground ; 

For some foul purpose yet unknown, — 

Most sure for evil to the throne, — 

The outlawed Chieftain, Eoderick Dhu, 

Has summoned his rebellious crew ; 845 

'Tis said, in James of Bothwell's aid 

These loose banditti stand arrayed. 

The Earl of Mar this morn from Doune 

To break their muster marched, and soon 

Your Grace will hear of battle fought ; 850 

But earnestly the Earl besought, 

Till for such danger he provide. 

With scanty train jow will not ride." 



XXXII. 

" Thou warn'st me I have done amiss, — 

I should have earlier looked to this ; 855 



834. many-headed monster-thing. Shakes., in 2 Henry IV, Induction, 

18, 19, has, 

" That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, 
The still-discordant wavering multitude," etc. — 

838. cognizance. Lat. con, together, completely; c/noscere, to know; 
cognoscerp, to recognize; Fr. connaisf^ance, or connoissance, knowledge. 
The distinguishing mark, by which a knight in full armor was recog- 
nized, his face being covered, was called his cognizance. — See iv, 153. — 
847. banditti. Teut. and Old Fr. ban, a curse, interdict ; proclamation ; 
Ital. handiti, outlaws. — 

853. MS. On distant chase you will not ride. 



176 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cAXTU V. 

I lost it ill this bustling da}^ — 

Retrace with speed thy former way ; 

Spare not for spoiling of thy steed, 

The best of mine shall be thy meed. 

Say to our faithful Lord of Mar, 860 

We do forbid the intended war ; 

Koderick this morn in single fight 

Was made our prisoner by a knight, 

And Douglas has himself and. cause 

Submitted to our kingdom's laws. 865 

The tidings of their leaders lost 

Will soon dissolve the mountain host, 

Nor would we that the vulgar feel. 

For their Chief's crimes, avenging steel. 

Bear Mar our message, Braco, fly ! " 870 

He turned his steed, — " My liege, I hie," 

Yet ere I cross this lily lawn 

I fear the broadswords will be drawn." 

The turf the flying courser spurned. 

And to his towers the King returned. 875 



XXXIII. 

Ill with King James's mood that day 

Suited gay feast and minstrel lay ; 

Soon were dismissed the courtly throng, 

And soon cut short the festal song. 

Nor less upon the saddened town 880 

The evening sunk in sorrow down. 

The burghers spoke of civil jar, 

Of rumored feuds and mountain war, 

Of Moray, Mar, and Roderick Dhu, 

All up in arms ; — the Douglas too, 885 

They mourned him pent within the hold, 

" Where stout Earl William was of old." — 



856. lost. What? — 858. for spoiling = on account of spoiling? for 
fear of spoiling? — 868. vulgar. Lat. vulgus, the multitude, the common 
people. One of those words that testify, by their change of meaning, to 
general depravity or worthlessness ? Such are villain, boor, knave, etc. — 

887. Earl William. See on line 550. — 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT, 111 

And there his word the speaker stayed, 

And finger on his lip he laid, 

Or pointed to his dagger blade. 890 

But jaded horsemen from the west 

At evening to the Castle pressed, 

And busy talkers said they bore 

Tidings of fight on Katrine's shore ; 

At noon the deadly fray begun, 895 

And lasted till the set of sun. 

Thus giddy rumor shook the town. 

Till closed the Night her pennons brown. 



CANTO SIXTH. 

THE GUARD-ROOM. 



The sun, awakening, through the smoky air 

Of the dark city casts a sullen glance, 
Bousing each caitiff to his task of care. 

Of sinful man the sad inheritance ; 
Summoning revellers from the lagging dance, 5 

Scaring the prowling robber to his den ; 
Gilding on battled tower the warder's lance. 

And warning student pale to leave his pen. 
And yield his drowsy eyes to the kind nurse of men. 

What various scenes, and 0, what scenes of woe, 10 

Are witnessed by that red and struggling beam ! 
The fevered patient, from his pallet low. 

Through crowded hospital beholds it stream ; 
The ruined maiden trembles at its gleam, 

The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail, 15 

The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream ; 

Tlie wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale. 
Trims her sick infant's couch and soothes his feeble wail. 



II. 



i 



At dawn the towers of Stirling rang 

With soldier-step and weapon-clang, 20 



Canto VI. Line 3. caitiff. Lat. capthms, a prisoner, a wretch ; Fr. 
chetif, poor, mean, bad. — G. First ed. reads, "And scarinsf prowling 
robbers to their den." Bettered ? — 7. battled. See i, 199 ; 11,^702 ; v, 812. 
— 9. kind nurse. "O gentle Sleep, Nature's soft nurse," 2 Henri/ IV, 
III, i, 5. — 12. pallet. Lat. palea ; Fr. paille, chaff, straw. — 15. gyve. 
Celtic gabh, to take; Welsh gpfyn, Breton kef, trunk of a tree. "Origi- 
nally a log of wood attached to the ankle." Taylor. 

178 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 179 

While drums with rolling note foretell 

Kelief to weary sentinel. 

Through narrow loop and casement barred, 

The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard, 

And, struggling with the smoky air, 25 

Deadened the torches' yellow glare. 

In comfortless alliance shone 

The lights through arch of blackened stone. 

And showed wild shapes in garb of war, 

Faces deformed with beard and scar, 30 

All haggard from the midnight watch. 

And fevered with the stern debauch ; 

For the oak table's massive board. 

Flooded with wine, with fragments stored, 

And beakers drained, and cups o'erthrown, 35 

Showed in what sport the night had flown. 

Some, weary, snored on floor and bench ; 

Some labored still their thirst to quench ; 

Some, chilled with watching, spread their hands 

O'er the huge chimney's dying brands, 40 

While round them, or beside them flung. 

At every step their harness rung. 



III. 

These drew not for their fields the sword. 

Like tenants of a feudal lord, 

Nor owned the patriarchal claim 45 

Of Chieftain in their leader's name ; 

Adventurers they, from far who roved. 

To live by battle which they loved. 

23. MS. Through blackened arch and casement barr'd. — 

25. strviggling with. Some eds. print struggling through. The bet- 
ter?- 

27. MS. The lisrhts in strange alliance shone 
Beneath the arch of blacken'd stone. 

Improved? — 35. beakers. Late Lat. bicarium, wine-cup; Ger. becher, 
cup, goblet. — 42. harness. Low Bret, harnez : Kymric harnais, imple- 
ments of ii'on ; Fr. harnais, trapping ; equipment of knight and horse. — 
47. adventurers. Says Scott, " James V seems to have first intro- 
duced . . . the service of a small number of mercenaries, who formed a 
body-guard, called the Foot-band. ... I have chosen to give them the 



180 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [CAXTO TI. 

There the Italian's clouded face, 

The swarthy Spaniard's there you trace ; 50 

The mountain-lovino^ Switzer there 

More freely breathed in mountain-air ; 

The Fleming there despised the soil 

That paid so ill the laborer's toil ; 

Their rolls sho^wed French and German name ; 53 

And merry England's exiles came, 

To share, with ill-concealed disdain, 

Of Scotland's pay the scanty gain. 

All brave in arms, well trained to wield 

The heavj" halberd, brand, and shield ; 60 

In camps licentious, wild, and bold ; 

In pillage fierce and uncontrolled ; 

And now, by holytide and feast, 

From rules of discipline released. 

IV. 

They held debate of bloody fray, 65 

Fought 'twixt Loch Katrine and Achray. 
Fierce was their speech, and mid their words 
Their hands oft grappled to their swords ; 
Nor sunk their tone to spare the ear 
Of wounded comrades groaning near, 70 

Whose mangled limbs and bodies gored 
Bore token of the mountain sword. 
Though, neighboring to the Court of Guard, 
Their prayers and feverish wails were heard, — 
Sad burden to the ruffian joke, 75 

And savage oath by fury spoke I — 

harsh features of the mercenary soldiers of the period." — 49, 50. clouded 
. . . S"warthy, The difference between the Italian and Spanish complex- 
ions is well indicated by these epithets [Taylor]? — 53. Fleming. The 
inhabitants of Flanders, now part of Belgium, had perhaps the richest 
soil in Europe. — GO. halberd. Ger. halm, stalk ; harte, axe. By confusion 
with helm (helmet), the name came to mean a helmet-axe, or axe for 
splitting helmets! — 63. holytide. For tide, see on iii, 478. Holy days 
became hoUdaijs ? — 

71. gored = pierced and torn [Ginnj ? clotted with blood : hence, pierced 
so as to draw blood [Taylor] ? A.S. gor, filth; Icel. goi\ clotted blood; or 
A.S. gar, a spear; gara, a projecting point of land. — 73. neighboring 
to = near ? — Awkward or elegant expression ? — 75. See on i, 17 ; ii, 392. — 

MS. Sad burden to the nitfian ,?e.?f 

And rude oaths vented by the rest. 



CANTO TI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 181 

At length up started John of Brent, 

A yeoman from the banks of Trent : 

A stranger to respect or fear, 

In peace a chaser of the deer, 80 

In host a hardy mutineer, 

But still the boldest of the crew 

When deed of danger was to do. 

He grieved that day their games cut short, 

And marred the dicer's brawling sport, 85 

And shouted loud. •• Eenew the bowl ! 

And, while a merr}' catch I troll, 

Let each the buxom chorus bear. 

Like brethren of the brand and spear." 



VI. 

The warders challenge, heard without. 

Stayed in mid-roar the merry shout. 

A soldier to the portal went, — iio 

" Here is old Bertram, sirs, of Ghent ; 

And — beat for jubilee the drum! — 

A maid and minstrel with him come." 

Bertram, a Fleming, gray and scarred, 

Was entering now the Court of Guard. 115 

A harper with him, and, in plaid 

All muflded close, a mountain maid, 

Who backward shrunk to 'scape the view 

Of the loose scene and boisterous crew. 



— 78. Trent. The Trent is an important navigable river of middle Eng- 
land, 140 miles long. — yeoman. A.S. ga : Ger. gaii : Low Gr. gohe, 
country district. — 81. host = army [GinnJ ? war [Taylor]? — 'LAX.hospes, 
a guest, or host : ^os?<>, a stranger :' an enemy : an army? — 88. buxom = 
merry, blithe [Taylor]? lively, brisk [Rolf e] ? — A.S. hugan. to bow; 
huhsam : Ger. heugsnm, biegsam, pliable. Once denoting flexibility and 
grace of form, as well as a complaisant disposition. Present meaning? — 
90. Of the Soldier's song given in the Appendix, Jeffrey says, '' The greatest 
blemish in the poem is the ribaldn,' and dull vulgarity which is put into 
the mouths of the soldiery in the guard-room. Mr. Scott has condescended 
to write a song for them, which will be read with pain, we are persuaded, 
even by his warmest admirers; and his whole genius, and even his power 
of versitication, seems to desert him, when he attempts to repeat their 
conversation.'" — 

111. Ghent. This famous city of Belgiimi. capital of East Flanders, 



182 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

" What news ? " they roared : — "I only know, 120 

From noon till eve we fought with foe 

As wild and as untamable 

As the rude mountains where they dwell ; 

On both sides store of blood is lost, 

Nor much success can either boast." — 125 

" But whence thy captives, friend ? such spoil 

As theirs must needs reward thy toil. 

Old dost thou wax, and wars grow sharp ; 

Thou now hast glee-maiden and harp ! 

Get thee an ape, and trudge the land, 130 

The leader of a juggler band." 



VII. 

*' No, comrade ; — no such fortune mine. 

After the fight these sought our line. 

That aged harper and the girl, 

And, having audience of the Earl, 135 

Mar bade I should purvey them steed. 

And bring them hitherward with speed. 

Forbear your mirth and rude alarm. 

For none shall do them shame or harm. — " 

" Hear ye his boast ? " cried John of Brent, 140 

Ever to strife and jangling bent ; 

" Shall he strike doe beside our lodge. 

And yet the jealous niggard grudge 



is 31 miles N.W. of Brussels. — 122, 123. Rhyme! —124. store. See on i, 
548.— 

127-131. MS. Get thee an ape, and then at once 

Thou mayst renounce the warrior's lance, 
And trudge through borough and throiigh land, 
The leader of a juggler band. — 

Needed mending?— 129. Thou now, etc. Scan ! — 131. juggler. "The 
jugglers used to call in the aid of various assistants to render these per- 
formances as captivating as possible. The glee-maiden was a necessary- 
attendant. Her duty was tumbling and dancing. . . . The facetious 
qualities of the ape soon rendered him an acceptable addition to the 
strolling baud." Scott. 

136. purvey. Lat. pro, before ; videre, to see ; providere, to look out 
beforehand ; Fr. pourvoir, to provide. — 143. niggard. Icel. hnogrr, 
stingy. The ending -ard denotes a high or excessive degree of the quality. 
Here it expresses contempt ? — 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 183 

To pay the forester his fee ? 

I'll have iiiy share howe'er it be, 145 

Despite of Moray, Mar, or thee." 

Bertram his forward step withstood; 

And, burning in his vengeful mood, 

Old Allan, though unfit for strife. 

Laid hand upon his dagger-knife ; 150 

But Ellen boldly stepped between. 

And dropped at once the tartan screen : — 

So, from his morning cloud, appears 

The sun of May through summer tears. 

The savage soldiery, amazed, 155 

As on descended angel gazed ; 

Even hardy Brent, abashed and tamed, 

Stood half admiring, half ashamed. 



VIII. 

Boldly she spoke : " Soldiers, attend ! 

My father was the soldier's friend, 160 

Cheered him in camps, in marches led. 

And with him in the battle bled. 

Not from the valiant or the strong 

Should exile's daughter suffer wrong." 

Answered De Brent, most forward still 165 

In every feat of good or ill : 

" I shame me of the part I played ; 

And thou an outlaw's child, poor maid ! 

An outlaw I by forest laws. 

And merry Needwood knows the cause. 170 

Poor Bose, — if Kose be living now," — 

147. MS. Bertram j J^ j^ - violence withstood. 

Happy change? Why? — 152. tartan screen. The tartan answered for 
veil. Note on ii, 343. — 

155. MS. While tho rude soldiery, amazed. 
164. MS. Should i'J/ZeH 7)o?/5r/os suffer wronpr. 

Well to change this? — 167. shame me = am ashamed? shame myself? 
— 170. Needwood. Formerly a royal forest in the Trent Valley in 
Staffordshire. It has fine remains of the ancient forest. — 

171. MS. ' Afy /?ose,' — he wiped his iron eye and brow, — 
' Poor Rose, — if Eose be living now.' 



184 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

He wiped his iron eye and brow, — 

" Must bear such age, I think, as thou. — 

Hear ye, my mates ! I go to call 

The Captain of our watch to hall : 175 

There lies my halberd on the floor ; 

And he that steps my halberd o'er, 

To do the maid injurious part. 

My shaft shall quiver in his heart ! 

Beware loose speech, or jesting rough; 180 

Ye all know John de Brent. Enough." 



IX. 

Their Captain came, a gallant young, — 

Of Tullibardine's house he sprung, — 

Nor wore he yet the spurs of knight ; 

Gay was his mien, his humor light, 185 

And, though by courtesy controlled, 

Forward his speech, his bearing bold. 

The high-born maiden ill could brook 

The scanning of his curious look 

And dauntless eye : — and yet, in sooth, 190 

Young Lewis was a generous youth; 

But Ellen's lovely face and mien, 

111 suited to the garb and scene. 

Might lightly bear construction strange, 

And give loose fancy scope to range. 195 

" Welcome to Stirling towers, fair maid ! 

Come ye to seek a champion's aid. 

On palfrey white, with harper hoar, 

Like errant damosel of yore ? 

Does thy high quest a knight require, 200 

Or may the venture suit a squire ? " 

Why the changes ? — 178. part = act ? deed ? — 181. You all know John 
de Brent, etc. 

" You know what Esek Harden isl — 
He brooks no wrong to him or his." Whittier's The Witch's Daughter 

183. Tullibardine's house. Tullibardiue was an old seat of the 
proud Murrays, in Perthshire, about 20 miles from Stirliug. — 184, 185. 
Spurs and belt were the recognized mark of knight. See i, 18; iv, 756. 
— 199. errant damosel. This antique phraseology is from Spenser? 
Faerie Queene, II, i, 19. — See on i, 475. — 



CANTO Vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 185 

Her dark eye flashed ; — she paused and sighed : — 

" O what have I to do with pride ! — 

Through scenes of sorrow, shame, and strife, 

A suppliant for a father's life, 205 

I crave an audience of the King. 

Behold, to back my suit, a ring, 

The royal pledge of grateful claims. 

Given by the Monarch to Fitz- James. '^ 



The signet-ring young Lewis took 210 

With deep respect and altered look, 

And said : " This ring our duties own ; 

And pardon, if to worth unknown, 

In semblance mean obscurely veiled, 

Lady, in aught my folly failed. 215 

Soon as the day flings wide his gates, 

The King shall know what suitor waits. 

Please you meanwhile in fitting bower 

Eepose you till his waking hour ; 

Female attendance shall obey 220 

-Your hest, for service or array. 

Permit I marshal you the way," 

But, ere she followed, with the grace 

And open bounty of her race. 

She bade her slender purse be shared 225 

Among the soldiers of the guard. 

The rest with thanks their guerdon took, 

But Brent, with shy and awkward look. 

On the reluctant maiden's hold 

Forced bluntly back the proffered gold : — 230 



209. MS. The monarch gave to James Fitze-James. 

212. own = possess? acknowledge? — 218. bower. See i, 217. — 
222. marshal you tlie w^ay. 

" Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going," Macbeth, II, i, 42. 

— Old High Ger. marah, a battle horse; A.S. me7-e ; Eng. rtiare ; A.S. 
scealc ; Mid. H. Ger. sholc, a servant ; Old Fr. mareschal; Fr. marechal, 
a^ officer over the horses and stables. Skeat, Bracket. — 225, 226. Rhyme! 

— 227. guerdon. Ger. loiecler, against, back again; Lat. donum, gift; 
Old Fr. guerdon, recompense, reward, meed. — 



186 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

'' Forgive a haughty English heart, 

And 0, forget its ruder part ! 

The vacant purse shall be my share, 

Which in my barret-cap I'll bear, 

Perchance, in jeopardy of war, 235 

Where gayer crests may keep afar," 

With thanks — 't was all she could — the maid 

His rugged courtesy repaid. 



XI. 

When Ellen forth with Lewis went, 

Allan made suit to John of Brent : — 240 

'^ My lady safe, let your grace 

Give me to see my master's face ! 

His minstrel I, — to share his doom 

Bound from the cradle to the tomb. 

Tenth in descent, since first my sires 245 

Waked for his noble house their lyres, 

Nor one of all the race was known 

But prized its weal above their own. 

With the Chief's birth begins our care ; 

Our harp must soothe the infant heir, 250 

Teach the youth tales of fight, and grace 

His earliest feat of field or chase ; 

In peace, in war, our rank we keep. 

We cheer his board, we soothe his sleep. 

Nor leave him till we pour our verse — 255 

A doleful tribute ! — o'er his hearse. 

Then let me share his captive lot; 

It is my right, — deny it not ! " 

" Little we reck," said John of Brent, 

" We southern men, of long descent ; 260 



233. MS. ' The silken purse shall serve for me, 
And ill my barret-cap shall flee.' 



flee/ — 234. barret = cloth? — Lat. birrus, a cape, coarse cloth ; Low Lat. 
birretum, ca,p; Fr. barrette, a cap, bonnet; whence beretta. — bear. As 
a 'favor'? See note on Iv, 686. — 235. jeopardy. Lat. jocits," Yr. jeu, 
sport, game ; Lat. partitas ; Fr. parti, divided. Hence, ' a divided game ' ; 
i.e. a game in which the chances are even. 

242. master's. Who is meant? — See 303-305. — 247, 248. one . . . 
their. Syntax? — 251. board. Word suggestive of primitive simplicity? 
— 261. wot. See on i, 596. — 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 187 

Nor wot we how a name — a word — 

Makes clansmen vassals to a lord : 

Yet kind my noble landlord's part, — 

God bless the house of Beaudesert! 

And, but I loved to drive the deer 265 

More than to guide the laboring steer, 

I had not dwelt an outcast here. • 

Come, good old Minstrel, follow me ; 

Thy Lord and Chieftain shalt thou see." 



XII. 

Then, from a rusted iron hook, 270 

A bunch of ponderous keys he took. 

Lighted a torch, and Allan led 

Through grated arch and passage dread. 

Portals they passed, where, deep within. 

Spoke prisoner's moan and fetters' din ; 275 

Through rugged vaults, where, loosely stored. 

Lay wheel, and axe, and headsman's sword. 

And many a hideous engine grim. 

For wrenching joint and crushing limb, 

By artists formed who deemed it shame 280 

And sin to give their work a name. 

They halted at a low-browed porch, 

And Brent to Allan gave the torch. 

While bolt and chain he backward rolled, 

And made the bar unhasp its hold. 285 

They entered : — 't was a prison-room 

Of stern security and gloom, 

Yet not a dungeon ; for the day 

Through lofty gratings found its way. 

And rude and antique garniture 290 

Decked the sad walls and oaken floor. 



276. MvS. has loiv broad instead of 'rushed.' Bettered? — 277. wheel. 
Instrument of torture. The savagery of our ancestors disgusts and astounds 
us. See the unabridged dictionaries.— 279. MS. has stretching for 'crush- 
ing.' — 

" The lifted axe, the agonlzinf? wheel, 
Luke's iron crown and Damien's bed of steel." Goldsmith's Traveller. 

— unhasp. A.S. haepse, a clasp folded over a staple. — 291. MS. has 



188 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

Such as the rugged days of oki 

Deemed lit for captive noble's hold. 

*^ Here," said De Brent, " thou mayst remain 

Till the Leech visit him again. 295 

Strict is his charge, the warders tell, 

To tend the noble prisoner Avell." 

Ketiring then the bolt he drew, 

And the lock's murmurs growled anew. 

Eoused at the sound, from lowly bed 300 

A captive feebly raised his head ; 

The wondering Minstrel looked, and knew — 

Not his dear lord, but Eoderick Dim ! 

For, come from where Clan-Alpine fought, 

They, erring, deemed the Chief he sought. 305 



XIII. 

As the tall ship, whose lofty prore 

Shall never stem the billows more, 

Deserted by her gallant band, 

Amid the breakers lies astrand, — 

So on his couch lay E-oderick Dhu ! 310 

And oft his fevered limbs he threw 

In toss abrupt, as when her sides 

Lie rocking in the advancing tides. 

That shake her frame with ceaseless beat, 

Yet cannot heave her from her seat ; — 315 

0, how unlike her course at sea ! 

Or his free step on hill and lea ! — 



flinty for 'oaken.' Less fit? — 292, 293. These two are not in 1st ed. 
Are tliey of value ? — 

294. MS. Thou may'st remain ; 

And then, retiring, bolt and chain, 
And rusty bar, he drew again, 
Eoused at the sound, etc. 

Any real gain by the alteration? 295. Leech. A.S, laknian, to cure; 
laece, physician. — 

BOB. prore (Lat. proy^a, prow). Used in prose? — 309. astrand. As 
in afoot, the a is here used for on. — 

316. MS. 01 how unlike her course on main ! 
Or his free step ou hill and plain ! 

Why changed? — 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 189 

Soon as the Minstrel he could scan, — 

'^ What of thy lady ? — of my clan ? — 

My mother ? — Douglas ? — tell me all ! 320 

Have they been ruined in my fall ? 

Ah, yes ! or wherefore art thou here ? 

Yet speak, — speak boldly, — do not fear." — 

For Allan, who his mood well knew, 

Was choked with grief and terror too. — 325 

" Who fought ? — who fled ? — Old man, be brief ; — 

Some might, — for they had lost their Chief. 

Who basely live ? — who bravely died ? " 

" 0, calm thee. Chief ! " the Minstrel cried, 

" Ellen is safe ! " " For that thank Heaven! " 330 

" And hopes are for the Douglas given ; — 

The Lady Margaret, too, is Avell ; 

And, for thy clan, — on field or fell, 

Has never harp of minstrel told 

Of combat fought so true and bold. 335 

Thy stately Pine is yet unbent, 

Though many a goodly bough is rent." 



XIV. 

The Chieftain reared his form on high, 

And fever's fire was in his eye ; 

But ghastly, pale, and livid streaks 340 

Checkered his swarthy brow and cheeks. . - 

" Hark, Minstrel ! I have heard thee play, 

With measure bold on festal day, 

In yon lone isle, — again where ne'er 

Shall harper play or warrior hear ! — 346 

That stirring air that peals on high, 

O'er Dermid's race our victory. — 

Strike it ! — and then, — for well thou canst, — 

Free from thy minstrel-spirit glanced, 



334. MS. <SAaZZ never harp of minstrel ^eW 

Of combat fought so fierce and well. 

Any better? — 344. again where ne'er. "One of Scott's strange in- 
versions." Taylor. 

347. Dermid's race. "A pibroch of the Macgregor clan celebrated 



190 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

Fling me the picture of the fight, 350 

When met my clan the Saxon might. 

I'll listen, till my fancy hears 

The clang of swords, the crash of spears ! 

These grates, these walls, shall vanish then 

For the fair field of fighting men, 355 

And my free spirit burst away, 

As if it soared from battle fray ! " 

The trembling Bard with awe obeyed, — 

Slow on the harp his hand he laid ; 

But soon remembrance of the sight 360 

He witnessed from the mountain's height, 

With what old Bertram told at night. 

Awakened the full power of song. 

And bore him in career along ; — 

As sliallop launched on river's tide, 365 

That slow and fearful leaves the side. 

But, when it leaves the middle stream. 

Drives downward swift as lightning's beam. 



XV. 
BATTLE OF BEAl' AN DUINE. 

"The Minstrel came once more to view 
The eastern ridge of Benvenue, 370 

For ere he parted he would say 
Farewell to lovely Loch Achra}^ — 
Where shall he find, in foreign land, 
So lone a lake, so sweet a strand ! — 
There is no breeze upon the fern, 375 

No ripple on the lake, 

this victory." Taylor. — 354-358. "There are several instances, at least 
in tradition, of persons so much attached to particular tunes as to require 
to hear them on their death-bed." Scott. — 362. Bertram, etc. This line 
not in MS.— 

369. Battle of Beal' an Duine. "A skirmish actually took place 
at a pass thus called, in the Trosachs, and closed Avith the remarkable 
incident mentioned in the text." Scott. See lines 565-573, and note on line 
5()7. — 376, etc. "The liveliness of this description of the battle is due to 
the greater variety of the metre, which resembles that of Marmion. The 
three-accent lines, introduced at intervals, give it lightness, and the repeti- 
tion of the same rhyme enables the poet to throve together without break 
all that forms part of one picture." Taylor. Test Mr. Taylor's views. — 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 191 

Upon her eyry nods the erne, 

The deer has sought the brake ; 
The small birds will not sing aloud, 

The springing trout lies still, 380 

So darkly glooms yon thunder-cloud, 
That swathes, as Avith a purple shroud, 

Benledi's distant hill. 
Is it the thunder's solemn sound 

That mutters deep and dread, 385 

Or echoes from the groaning ground 

The warrior's measured tread ? 
Is it the lightning's quivering glance 

That on the thicket streams. 
Or do they flash on spear and lance 390 

The sun's retiring beams? — 
I see the dagger-crest of Mar, 
I see the Moray's silver star. 
Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war. 
That up the lake comes winding far ! 395 

To hero bonne for battle-strife. 

Or bard of martial lay, 
'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life, 

One glance at their array ! 



XVI. 

" Their light-armed archers far and near 400 

Surveyed the tangled ground, 
Their centre ranks, with pike and spear, 

A twilight forest frowned, 
Their barded horsemen in the rear 

The stern battalia crowned. 405 

377. eyry = nest or brood ? place where the hawk or eagle builds her 
nest? — Pronunciation? — erne. A.S. earn — sea-eagle? — 392. See on iv, 
153. — 396. bonne = bound ? ready? — See iv, 36. Usually misprinted. 
Taylor calls attention to the allitei-ation in describing the' distant rum- 
blings of the soldier's march. Fancy or fact? — 

404. barded. French banle, horse armor. Holinshed (in age of Eliza- 
beth) speaks of ' barded horses, all covered with iron.' — Scott, i?i Lay of 
Last Minstrel, \, 311, uses it. — Most editions change it to harb^cl. — 
40.5. battalia. "A plural formed, after a false analogy, like that of 
Greek nouns, such ixs phenomenon." Taylor. " Not a plural oiha'tation, 
as some have seemed to think." Rolfe. — Defined, 'order of battle, dis- 
position or arrangement of troops, an army in battle array, also the main 



192 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

No cymbal clashed, no clarion rang, 

Still were the pipe and drum ; 
Save heavy tread and armor's clang, 

The sullen march was dumb. 
There breathed no wind their crests to shake, 410 

Or wave their flags abroad ; 
Scarce the frail aspen seemed to quake. 

That shadowed o'er their road. 
Their vaward scouts no tidings bring, 

Can rouse no lurking foe, 415 

Nor spy a trace of living thing. 

Save when they stirred the roe ; 
The host moves like a deep-sea wave, 
Where rise no rocks its pride to brave, 

High-swelling, dark, and slow. , 420 

The lake is passed, and now they gain 
A narrow and a broken plain. 
Before the Trosachs' rugged jaws ; 
And here the horse and spearmen pause. 
While, to explore the dangerous glen, 425 

Dive through the pass the archer-men. 

XVII. 

'^ At once there rose so wild a yell 
Within that dark and narrow dell. 
As all the fiends from heaven that fell 
Had pealed the banner-cry of hell ! 430 

Forth from the pass in tumult driven. 
Like chaff before the wind of heaven. 

The archery appear : 
For life ! for life ! their flight they ply — 
And shriek, and shout, and battle-cry, 435 

battalia or body ' ; battalion. In Shakespeare's Richard III, it seems to 
mean host, army. — 414. vaward. Fr. avant, before; garde, guard. 
Avant is ah, from, and ante, before. — The vanguard is the ti'oops who 
march in front of the main body of an army. — Vaward is Shakesperian. 
— 418-420. Every old soldier who has seen disciplined troops advance in 
line of battle will bear testimony to the accuracy of this descriiDtion. — 
419. pride. Not 'power,' as sometimes printed. — 423. Trosachs'. See 
on i, 145. — 

429. as all. Ellipsis? See on ii, 56.-434. flight they ply. This 
expression puzzles the commentators, some of whom think it means, * keep 
up a constant fire ' of arrows. So Taylor, and perhaps Eolfe. In iii, 318, 



CAXTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 193 

And plaids and bonnets waving high, 
And broadswords flashing to the sky, 

Are maddening in the rear. 
Onward they drive in dreadful race. 

Pursuers and pursued ; 440 

Before that tide of flight and chase, 
How shall it keep its rooted place, 

The spearmen's twilight wood ? — 
^Down, down,' cried Mar, ^your lances down! 

Bear back both friend and foe ! ' — 445 

Like reeds before the tempest's frown, 
That serried grove of lances brown 

At once lay levelled low ; 
And closely shouldering side to side. 
The bristling ranks the onset bide. — 450 

' We'll quell the savage mountaineer, 

As their Tinchel cows the game ! 
They come as fleet as forest deer, 

We'll drive them back as tame.' 

XVIII. 

" Bearing before them in their course 455 

The relics of the archer force, 

Like wave with crest of sparkling foam. 

Bight onward did Clan- Alpine come. 

Above the tide, each broadsword bright 

Was brandishing like beam of light, 460 

Each targe was dark below ; 

And with the ocean's mighty swing, 

When heaving to the tempest's wing, 
They hurled them on the foe. 

Malise ' plies his flying pace,' i.e. doubles and redoubles with vigor, em- 
ploys vigorously, repeats energetically, toils briskly at his flying pace. 
Precisely so here ? — 443. twilight wood. In line 403 we have * a twilight 
forest * of pikes and spears. " In the twilight, they might have been 
mistaken at a distance for a wood." Taylor. Milton has 'a forest huge 
of spears.' Par. Lost, i, 546, 547. — 447. serried. Correctly used? — 
Lat. severe, to tie together, join, connect; Fr. seiTcr, press close, lock. — 
449,450. This couplet not in MS. — 452. Tinchel. " A circle of sportsmen, 
who, by surrounding a great space, and gradually narrowing, brought 
immense quantities of deer together, which usually made desperate efforts 
to break through the Tinchel." Scott. — 

464. hurled them. Hurled what f See on v, 187. — 



194 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

I heard tlie lance's shivering crash, 465 

As when the whirlwind rends the ash ; 
I heard the broadsword's deadly clang, 
As if a hundred anvils rang ! 
But Moray wheeled his rearward rank 
Of horsemen on Clan- Alpine's flank, — 470 

^ My banner-man, advance ! 
I see,' he cried, ' their column shake. 
Now, gallants ! for your ladies' sake. 

Upon them with the lance ! ' — 
The horsemen dashed among the rout, 475' 

As deer break through the broom ; 
Their steeds are stout, their swords are out, 

Tliey soon make lightsome room. 
Clan- Alpine's best are backward borne — 

Where, where was Roderick then ! 480 

One blast upon his bugle-horn 

Were worth a thousand men. 
And refluent through the pass of fear 

The battle's tide was poured; 
Vanished the Saxon's struggling spear, 485 

Vanished the mountain-sword. 
As Bracklinn's chasm, so black and steep, 

Receives her roaring linn, 
As the dark caverns of the deep 

Suck the wild whirlpool in, 490 

So did the deep and darksome pass 
Devour the battle's mingled mnss ; 
None linger now upon the plain, 
Save those who ne'er shall fight again. 



469. his rearward rank. See lines 404, 405. Had Moray a front 
rank? — 473. 

" Now, by the lips of those ye love, fair g-entlemen of France, 
Charge for the golden lilies, — upon them with the lance ! " 

— Macaulay's Battle of Tory. 

— 483. refluent. Lat. re, back; fluere, to flow. 

MS. And refluent down the darksome pass 
The battle's tide was poured ; 
TTiere foiled the spearman's struggling spear, 
There raged the mountain sword, 

— For the better?— 487. Bracklinn's. See on i, 71 ; ii, 270. — 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 195 



XIX. 

'' Now westward rolls the battle's din, 496 

That deep and doubling pass within. — 

Minstrel, away ! the work of fate 

Is bearing on ; its issue wait 

Where the rude Trosachs' dread defile 

Opens on Katrine's lake and isle. 500 

Gray Benvenue I soon repassed, 

Loch Katrine lay beneath me cast. 

The sun is set ; — the clouds are met, 
The lowering scowl of heaven 

An inky hue of livid blue 505 

To the deep lake has given ; 
Strange gusts of wind from mountain glen 
Swept o'er the lake, then sunk again. 
I heeded not the eddying surge, 
Mine eye but saw the Trosachs' gorge, 5io 

Mine ear but heard that sullen sound. 
Which like an earthquake shook the ground, 
And spoke the stern and desperate strife 
That parts not but with parting life. 
Seeming, to minstrel ear, to toll 515 

The dirge of many a passing soul. 

Nearer it comes — the dim-wood glen 

The martial flood disgorged again, 
But not in mingled tide ; 

The plaided warriors of the North 520 

High on the mountain thunder forth 
And overhang its side. 

While by the lake below appears 

The darkening cloud of Saxon spears. 

49T. MS. Away ! away ! the work of fate ! 

— 499. defile. Lat. de, off; filum, a string; Eng. defile, to string off, go 
single file. — 503, etc. Note the effect of color and rhyme. —509, 510. 
Rhyme? — See i, 223.— 511. that sullen. In many editions, ' the sullen.' 
Any preference? — 514. parts not, etc. 

"The loveliness in death 
That parts not quite with parting breath." — Byron's Giaour. 

— See on ii, 94. 

515. MS. A7id seemed to minstrel ear, to toll 

The parting dirge of many a soul. 
523. MS. While by the darkened lake below, 

File out the spearmen of the foe. 



196 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

At weary bay each shattered band, 525 

Eying their foemen, sternly stand ; 

Their banners stream like tattered sail, 

That flings its fragments to the gale, 

And broken arms and disarray 

Marked the fell havoc of the day. 530 



XX. 

" Viewing the mountain's ridge askance, 
The Saxons stood in sullen trance. 
Till Moray pointed with his lance, 

And cried : ' Behold yon isle ! — 
See ! none are left to guard its strand 535 

But women weak, that wring the hand : 
'Tis there of yore the robber band 

Their booty wont to pile ; — 
My purse, with bonnet-pieces store, 
To him will swim a bow-shot o'er, 540 

And loose a shallop from the shore. 
Lightly we'll tame the war-wolf then, 
Lords of his mate, and brood, and den.' 
Forth from the ranks a spearman sprung. 
On earth his casque and corselet rung, 545 

He plunged him in the wave : — 
All saw the deed, — the purpose knew, 
And to their clamors Benvenue 

A mingled echo gave ; 
The Saxons shout, their mate to cheer, 550 

The helpless females scream for fear, 
And yells for rage the mountaineer. 
'Twas then, as by the outcry riven. 
Poured down at once the lowering heaven: 



— much better? — 525. bay. See on i, 133; iv, 691.— 527. tattered. The 
1st ed. has ' shattered.' Equally good? 

532. Saxons. Some editions have 'Saxon.' Manifest error? — 
538. wont. See on i, 408. — 539. store. See line 124; also on i, 548. — 
bonnet pieces = gold coins in which a bonnet instead of a crown was 
represented on the king's head, an emblem likely to win favor for the 
'Commons' King.' — 540. Ellipsis? See i, 528. —545. casque. Ital. and 
Span, casco, potsherd ; skull; helmet. — corselet. Lat. co^pws; Yv. corps, 
body ; corselet (diminutive word) , armor for the body. — 546. him. Whom ? 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 197 

A whirlwind swept Loch Katrine's breast, 555 

Her billows reared their snowy crest. 

Well for the swimmer swelled they high, 

To mar the Highland marksman's eye ; 

For round him showered, mid rain and hail, 

The vengeful arrows of the Gael. 5tJ0 

In vain. — He nears the isle — and lo ! 

His hand is on a shallop's bow ! 

Just then a flash of lightning came. 

It tinged the waves and strand with flame ; 

I marked Duncraggan's widowed dame, 565 

Behind an oak I saw her stand, 

A naked dirk gleamed in her hand : — 

It darkened, — but amid the moan 

Of waves I heard a dying groan ; — 

Another flash ! — the spearman floats 570 

A weltering corse beside the boats, 

And the stern matron o'er him stood. 

Her hand and dagger streaming blood ! 



XXI. 

. " ' Kevenge ! revenge ! ' the Saxons cried, 

The Gaels' exulting shout replied. 675 

Despite the elemental rage. 

Again they hurried to engage; 

But, ere they closed in desperate fight, 

Bloody with spurring came a knight, 

— Parallel instances? — 556. The 1st ed. has 'billow reared his.' — Infe- 
rior ? — 

5(>4. MS. It tinged the boats and lake with flame. 

— Judicious change ? — "The eight closing lines of the stanza are inter- 
polated on a slip of paper." — 565. Duncraggan's widowed dame. 
See iii, 348-451. — 567. The 1st edition has Her husband's dirk. Why 
change it? — See on line o69. — In 1650 and 1651, after the battle of Dun- 
bar (Sept. ;<, 1650), Cromwell's soldiers penetrated this country, and a 
skirmish toolc place at this pass in the Trosachs. To fetch back one of 
the boats a soldier swam to the wooded island, where the Avomen, children, 
and valuables had been secreted ; and just as he was laying hold of a 
black rock to get on shore, one of the women, Helen Stuart, snatched a 
dagger from beneath her apron, and with one stroke severed his head from 
his body ! — 

576. elemental. The ancient philosophers called fire, air, earth, and 
water the four elements. Which of these may be alluded to in elemental 



198 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

Sprung from his horse, and from a crag 580 

Waved 'twixt the hosts a milk-white flag. 

Clarion and trumpet by his side 

Rung forth a truce-note high and wide, 

While, in the monarch's name, afar 

A herald's voice forbade the war, 585 

For Bothwell's lord and E-oderick bold 

Were both, he said, in captive hold." — 

But here the lay made sudden stand. 

The harp escaped the Minstrel's hand ! 

Oft had he stolen a glance, to spy 590 

How Roderick brooked his minstrelsy : 

At first, the Chieftain, to the chime. 

With lifted hand kept feeble time ; 

That motion ceased, — yet feeling strong 

Varied his look as changed the song ; 595 

At length, no more his deafened ear 

The minstrel melody can hear ; 

His face grows sharp, — his hands are clenched, 

As if some pang his heart-strings wrenched ; 

Set are his teeth, his fading eye 600 

Is sternly fixed on vacancy ; 

Thus, motionless and moanless, drew 

His parting breath stout Roderick Dhu ! — 

Old Allan-Bane looked on aghast. 

While grim and still his spirit passed ; 605 

But when he saw that life was fled. 

He poured his wailing o'er the dead. 



ragef — 592. chime. Lat. cymhdlurn; Old Eng. chimbe; Fr. cymbale, 
cymbal. — See iv, 524. 

595. MS. Glowed in his look, as swelled the song. 

— Better as altered ? — 

600. MS. Setarehisteeth, his |£g^J*"^{-eye. 

— Wise choice made? — 602. Thus. Scott tells us that Rob Roy Mac- 
Gregor, visited, as he lay on his death-bed, by an old enemy, said, as soon 
as the latter left the house, " Now all is over — let the piper play Ha til 
mi tulidh " [we return no more], and he is said to have expired before the 
dirge was finished. — 605. grim. Changed by Scott from 'stern,' because 
' sternly ' occurs four lines above. For a similar reason he substituted, in 
line 6S3 fleet for ' dun,' which had occurred in line 648. So he tells us. — 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 199 



XXII. 
LAMENT. 

^' And art thou cold and lowly laid, 

Thy foeman's dread, thy people's aid, 

Breadalbane's boast, Clan-Alpine's shade ! 610 

For thee shall none a requiem say ? — 

For thee, who loved the minstrel's lay. 

For thee, of Bothwell's house the stay, 

The shelter of her exiled line 

E'en in this prison-house of thine, 615 

I'll wail for Alpine's honored Pine ! 

^' What groans shall yonder valleys fill ! 

What shrieks of grief shall rend yon hill ! 

What tears of burning rage shall thrill, 

When mourns thy tribe thy battles done, 620 

Thy fall before the race was won, 

Thy sword ungirt ere set of sun ! 

There breathes not clansman of thy line 

But would have given his life for thine. 

0, woe for Alpine's honored Pine ! 625 

" Sad was thy lot on mortal stage ! — 

The captive thrush may brook the cage. 

The prisoned eagle dies for rage. 

Brave spirit, do not scorn my strain ! 

And, when its notes awake again, 630 

Even she, so long beloved in vain, 

Shall with my harp her voice combine, 

And mix her woe and tears with mine. 

To wail Clan-Alpine's honored Pine." 

603. MS. 'And art thou gone,* the Minstrel said. 

— How better? — 609. foeman's. Sometimes misprinted foemen's — 
610. Breadalbane's. See on ii, 416. — Note the effect of the threefold 
rhyme in producing emphasis. — See Corson's Primer of English Verse. 

614. MS. The mightiest of a mighty line. 

— Less appropriate? — 631. even she, etc. See ii, 748-754, etc. — 



200 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cAXTO VI. 



XXIII. 

Ellen the while, with bursting heart, 635 

Remained in lordly bower apart, 
Where played, with many-colored gleams, 
Through storied pane the rising beams. 
In vain on gilded roof they fall. 

And lightened up a tapestried wall; 640 

And for her use a menial train 
A rich collation spread in vain. 
The banquet proud, the chamber gay, 
Scarce drew one curious glance astray ; 
Or if she looked, 'twas but to say, 645 

With better omen dawned the day 
In that lone isle, where waved on high 
The dun-deer's hide for canopy ; 
Where oft her noble father shared 
The simple meal her care prepared, 650 

While Lufra, crouching by her side. 
Her station claimed with jealous pride. 
And Douglas, bent on woodland game. 
Spoke of the chase to Malcolm Graeme, 
Whose answer, oft at random made, 655 

The wandering of his thoughts betrayed. 
Those who such simple joys have known 
Are taught to prize them when they're gone. 
But sudden, see, she lifts her head ! 
The window seeks with cautious tread. 660 

What distant music has the power 
, To win her in this woful hour? 
'Twas from a turret that o'erhung 
Her latticed bower, the strain was sung. 

638. storied = with pictured stories? — So Milton's 'storied windows 
richly dight,' // Pens^i'oso ; and Gray's 'storied urn,' Elegy. — 639, 
640. fall . . . lightened. Why this change of tense ? Faulty? Would 
lighten be better ? — tapestried. The walls were covered with pictured 
hangings ? — 

643. MS. The banquet gay the chamber's jorirfe, 
Scarce dreio one curious glance aside. 

— 651. Lufra. See v, 698.— 

65.3. MS. And Douglas, earnest on his game. 



CANTO VT.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 201 

XXIV. 
LAY OF THE IMPRISONED HUNTSMAN. 

^' My hawk is tired of perch and hood, 665 

My idle greyhound loathes his food, 

My horse is weary of his stall, 

And I am sick of captive thrall. 

I wish I were as I have been, 

Hunting the hart in forest green 670 

With bended bow and bloodhound free, 

For that's the life is meet for me. 

I hate to learn the ebb of time 

From yon dull steeple's drowsy chime, 

Or mark it as the sunbeams crawl, 675 

Inch after inch, along the wall. 

The lark was wont my matins ring. 

The sable rook my vespers sing ; 

These towers, although a king's they be. 

Have not a hall of joy for me. 680 

No more at dawning morn I rise, 

And sun myself in Ellen's eyes. 

Drive the fleet deer the forest through, 

And homeward wend with evening dew ; 

A blithesome welcome blithely meet, 685 

And lay my trophies at her feet. 

While fled the eve on wing of glee, — . 

That life is lost to love and me ! " 



665. perch and hood. See ii, 523-525. Disgust at inactivity? — 
6T2. MS. For that's the life was meant for me. 
"What objection to this? 

674. MS. From darkened steeple's drowsy chime. 

— What steeple ? See on v, 558. — 

677. MS. The lively lark my matins rung. 
The sable rook my vespers sung. 

— Bold ellipsis of io ? Such ellipsis was common in Shakespeare's time. 

— 677. matins. See on i, 293. — G78. vespers. Lat. Hesperus, evening 
star ; Lat. vesper, evening. — 

630. MS. Have not a hall should harbor me. 

— 683. fleet. See on line 605.— 686. trophies. See on i, 549.— 678. Is 
Malcolm as good a poet as Ellen ? See i, 569-575 ; 616-621, etc. ; 654-665.— 



202 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 



XXY. 

The heart-sick lay was hardly said, 

The listener had not turned her head, 690 

It trickled still, the starting tear, 

When light a footstep struck her ear. 

And Snowdoun's graceful Knight was near. 

She turned the hastier, lest again 

The prisoner should renew his strain. 695 

"0 welcome, brave Fitz- James !" she said; 

" How may an almost orphan maid 

Pay the deep debt — " "0 say not so ! 

To me no gratitude you owe. 

Not mine, alas ! the boon to give, 700 

And bid thy noble father live ; 

I can but be thy guide, sweet maid, 

With Scotland's King thy suit to aid. 

No tyrant he, though ire and pride 

May lay his better mood aside. 705 

Come, Ellen, come! 'tis more than J ne, 

He holds his court at morning prime." 

With beating heart, and bosom wrung, 

As to a brother's arm she clung. 

Gently he dried the falling tear, 710 

And gently whispered hope and cheer; 

Her faltering steps half led, half stayed, 

Through gallery fair and high arcade, 

Till at his touch its wings of pride, 

A portal arch unfolded wide. 715 

XXVI. 

Within 'twas brilliant all and light, 
A thronging scene of figures bright ; 
It glowed on Ellen's dazzled sight, 



707. morning prime = earlv in the morning [R )lfe] ? the first quar- 
ter of the day [Tayhirl ? dawn [Ginn] ? the first canonical hour of prayer, 
6 A.M.? — 712. stayed. Old Fr. psfayer, to prop. — 713. arcade. Late 
Lat. areata, an arched structure; Lat. arcus, a bow; Fr. arcade. — 

716. MS. Within 'twas brilliant all. and bright 
The vision glotoed on Ellen's sight. 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 203 

As when the setting- sun has given 

Ten thousand hues to summer even, 720 

And from their tissue fancy frames 

Aerial knights and fairy dames. 

Still by Fitz-James her footing staid ; 

A few faint steps she forward made, 

Then slow her drooping head she raised, 725 

And fearful round the presence gazed ; 

For him slie sought who owned this state. 

The dreaded Prince whose will was fate ! — 

She gazed on many a princel}' port 

Might well have ruled a royal court ; 730 

On many a splendid garb she gazed, — 

Then turned bewildered and amazed. 

For all stood bare ; and in the room 

Fitz-James alone wore cap and plume. 

To him each lady's look was lent, 735 

On him each courtier's eye was bent ; 

Midst furs and silks and jewels sheen, 

He stood, in simple Lincoln green. 

The centre of the glittering ring, — 

And Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King ! 740 



XXVII. 

As wreath of snow on mountain-breast 
Slides from the rock that gave it rest. 



— What objection to this reading? — 726. presence = immediate vicinity 
to one of exalted rank ? reception-room ? presence-chamber ? — In Henry 
VIII, III, i, 17, we have the latter sense, thus : 

" An't please your grace, the two great cardinals 
Wait in the presence.'''' 

121. MS. For him who own'd this royal state. 

state = body politic? condition? pomp? — 729. port. Lat. port are ; Fr. 
porter, to carry, bear; port, bearing, mien. — 737. sheen. See on i, 208. 

— 739. ring. Like " I see thee compassed by thy kingdom's pearl," Mac- 
beth, V, viii, 56. — This stanza, xxvi. is highly wrought. Point out its salient 
features and particular graces. — 740. Scott is at pains to inform us that 
the incident is founded upon Scottish tradition of what actually befell 
King James in one of his love adventures. " For the purpose of seeing 
that justice was regularly administered, and frequently from the less 
justifiable motive of gallantry, he used to traverse the vicinage of his 
several palaces in various disguises." — 



204 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

Poor Ellen glided from her stay. 

And at the Monarch's feet she lay ; 

No word her choking voice commands, — 745 

She showed the ring, — she clasped her hands. 

0, not a moment could he brook, 

The generous Prince, that suppliant look ! 

Gently he raised her, — and, the while. 

Checked with a glance the circle's smile ; 750 

Graceful, but grave, her brow he kissed, 

And bade her terrors be dismissed : — 

" Yes, fair ; the wandering poor Fitz-James 

The fealty of Scotland claims. 

To him thy woes, thy wishes, bring ; 765 

He will redeem his signet ring. 

Ask naught for Douglas ; — y ester even 

His Prince and he have much forgiven ; 

Wrong hath he had from slanderous tongue, 

1, from his rebel kinsmen, wrong. 700 
We would not, to the vulgar crowd, 

Yield what they craved with clamor loud ; 

Calmly we heard and judged his cause, 

Our council aided and our laws. 

I stanched thy father's death-feud stern 765 

With stout De Vaux and gray Glencairn ; 

And Bothwell's Lord henceforth we own 

The friend and bulwark of our throne. — 

But, lovely infidel, how now ? 

What clouds thy misbelieving brow ? 770 

Lord James of Douglas, lend thine aid ; 

Thou must confirm this doubting maid." 



743. MS. Poor Ellen shrinking quits her sta}-. 

— " Mr. Ruskiu (Modern Painters, iii, 248) bids us note the northern love 
of rocks in the opening of this stanza. ' Dante could not have thought 
of his cut rocks as giving rest even to snow. He must put it on the pine 
branches, if it is to be at peace.' " Taylor. — 757. yester even. See on 
i, 457; V, 104. — 758. Is have correctly used here? — 7G6. Glencairn. 
He " is the dowre [stout, sullen, stubborn] enemy of Douglas in the ballad 
of Archie Kilspindie." — 



I 



CANTO YI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 205 



XXVIII. 

Then forth the noble Douglas sprung, 

And on his neck his daughter hung. 

The Monarch drank, that happy hour, 775 

The sweetest, holiest draught of Power, — 

When it can say with godlike voice, 

Arise, sad Virtue, and rejoice ! 

Yet would not James the general eye 

On nature's raptures long should pry ; 780 

He stepped between — "Nay, Douglas, nay. 

Steal not my proselyte away ! 

The riddle 'tis my right to read, 

That brought this happy chance to speed. 

Yes, Ellen, when disguised I stray 785 

In life's more low but happier way, 

'Tis under name which veils my power, 

Nor falsely veils, — for Stirling's tower 

Of yore the name of Snowdoun claims. 

And Normans call me James Fitz-James. 790 

Thus watch I o'er insulted laws. 

Thus learn to right the injured cause." 

Then, in a tone apart and low, — 

" Ah, little traitress ! none must know 

What idle dream, what lighter thought, 795 

What vanity full dearly bought. 

Joined to thine eye's dark witchcraft, drew 

My spell-bound steps to Benvenue 



780. pry. Properly used with on? — 782. proselyte. Gr. ttpoo-^Xvto?, 
proselutos, a comer, one who has come as a couvert to the Jewish or 
Christian faitli. — 783. read. A.S. raedan, to advise; discern; Old Swed. 
reda, to explain. See on v, 334. — 784. to speed = to a successful result 
[Ginn] ? to a fortunate issue [Rolfe] or, to pass (if speed be a verb) [Rolfe] ? 
— A.S. sped, success ; swiftness. — 

780. MS. lu loivhj life's Diore happy \vuy. — 

Any better as changed ? — 789. name of Snowdoun. " It was probably 
derived from the romantic legend which connected Stirling with King 
Arthur, to which the mention of the Round Table gives countenance. The 
ring within which justs were formerly practised, in the castle park, is still 
called the Round Table." Scott. 

T98. MS. Th>j sovereign back '. to Benvenue 
T/i?/ sovereign's steps ) ^^ benvenue. 



206 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

In dangerous hour, and all but gave 

Thy monarch's life to mountain glaive !" 800 

Aloud he spoke, " Thou still dost hold 

That little talisman of gold, 

Pledge of my faith, Fitz-James's ring, — 

What seeks fair Ellen of the King?" 



XXIX. 

Full well the conscious maiden guessed 805 

He probed the weakness of her breast ; 

But with that consciousness there came 

A lightening of her fears for Graeme, 

And more she deemed the Monarch's ire 

Kindled 'gainst him who for her sire 810 

Kebellious broadsword boldly drew ; 

And, to her generous feeling true. 

She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu. 

" Forbear thy suit ; — the King of kings 

Alone can stay life's parting wings ! 815 

I know his heart, I know his hand. 

Have shared his cheer, and proved his brand ; — 

My fairest earldom would I give 

To bid Clan- Alpine's Chieftain live ! — 

Hast thou no other boon to crave ? 820 

No other captive friend to save ? " 

Blushing, she turned her from the King, 

And to the Douglas gave the ring, 

As if she wished her sire to speak 

The suit that stained her glowing cheek. 825 



— Why better as revised? — 800. glaive. See on iv, 150; 274; v, 253.— 
802. talisman. Gr. T€\eafj.a, telesma, initiation, mystery; Arabic, tilism, 
tilsiman, a magical image ; telsaman, horoscope. — 

S03. MS. Pledge of Fitz-James's faith, the ring. 

808. Some editions have lightning in place of lightening. Proper ? — 

809. MS. " And in her breast strove maiden shame ; 
More deep she deemed the monarch's ire 
Kindled Vainst him. who. for her sire. 
Against his Sovereign broadsword drew ; 
And. with a pleading warm and true. 
She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu." 

813. grace. Properly used for pardon? — 825. stained. Is this word 



CANTO VI.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 207 

"Nay, then, my pledge has lost its force, 

And stubborn justice holds her course. 

Malcolm, come forth ! " — and, at the word, 

Down kneeled the Graeme to Scotland's Lord. 

" For thee, rash youth, no suppliant sues, 830 

From thee may Vengeance claim her dues, 

Who, nurtured underneath our smile. 

Hast paid our care by treacherous wile, 

And sought amid thy faithful clan 

A refuge for an outlawed man, 835 

Dishonoring thus thy loyal name. — 

Fetters and warder for the Graeme ! " 

His chain of gold the King unstrung. 

The links o'er Malcolm's neck he flung, 

Then gently drew the glittering band, 840 

And laid the clasp on Ellen's hand ! 



Harp of the North, farewell ! The hills grow dark, 

On purple peaks a deeper shade descending ; 
In twilight copse the glow-worm lights her spark, 

The deer, half seen, are to the covert wending. 845 

Resume thy wizard elm ! the fountain lending, 

And the wild breeze, thy wilder minstrelsy* ; 
Thy numbers sweet with nature's vespers blending, 

AVith distant echo from the fold and lea. 
And herd-boy's evening pipe, and hum of housing bee. 850 

Yet, once again, farewell, thou Minstrel Harp ! 

Yet, once again, forgive my feeble sway, 
And little reck I of the censure sharp 

May idly cavil at an idle lay. 



well chosen? — 837. warder. See on i, 38. — the Graeme. Jeffrey- 
says, " Malcolm Gr?eme has too insignificant a part assigned him, con- 
sidering the favor in which he is held both by Ellen and the author." A 
fair criticism ? 

842. Harp of the North, fai*ewell. See the stanzas introductory to 
Canto I. — 846. wizard elin. See on i, 2. — 850. housing = making for 



208 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [cANTO VI. 

Much have I owed thy strains on life's long way, 855 

Through secret woes the world has never known, 

When on the weary night dawned wearier day, 
And bitterer was the grief devoured alone. — 

That I o'erlive such woes, Enchantress ! is thine own. 

Hark ! as my lingering footsteps slow retire, soo 

Some Spirit of the Air has waked thy string ! 
'Tis now a seraph bold, with touch of hre, 

'Tis now the brush of Fairy's frolic wing ! 
Ileceding now, the dying numbers ring 

Fainter and fainter down the rugged dell ; 865 

And now the mountain breezes scarcely bring 

A wandering witch-note of the distant spell — 
And now, 'tis silent all ! — Enchantress, fare thee well ! 



the house (hive)? — 858. grief devoured. "My tears have been my 
meat"; "Thou feedest them with the bread of tears"; "bread of ad- 
versity," Psalms, xlii, 3; Ixxx, 5; Isaiah, xxx, 20. — We have here a hint 
of sorrows of which Scott was too manly to complain ? — 862. seraph . . . 
fire. Sei'aph, Hebrew saraph, to burn? 

" As the rapt seraph that adores aud burns.'' — Pope. 



APPENDIX. 



JAMES V. 

lOutliue.'] 

His father, James IV, lost his life on the 9th of September, 1513, in 
the disastrous battle of Flodden Field. James was born April 10th, 1512, 
at Linlithgow, and, when a year and a half old, was crowned king at 
Scone, in October, 1513. At first the regency was vested in his mother, 
Margaret of England, sister of Henry VIII. In 1514 she married 
Archibald Douglas, sixth Earl of Angus. She becoming unpopular, 
the regency was transferred by the Estates to the Duke of Albany. 

The English forbore to follow up their victory at Flodden ; but 
the close connection of Albany with France aroused the jealousy of 
Henry VIII, and Scotland was continually exposed to more or less 
serious attacks from the English. Finally, Albany, to whose arrogant 
bearing and French manners and habits not even the enmity against 
him of Henry could reconcile the Estates, took his departure in 1524 
to the country of his choice. 

Thereupon, through the scheming of Henry, James was "erected " 
king in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, ruling the kingdom by the advice 
of his mother and the lords in council. 

In 1526 James was persuaded to choose as his governor the Earl of 
Angus, who kept him in close confinement until May, 1528, when 
James made his escape from Falkland.^ The young king now adopted 
measures so vigorous against Angus as to compel him to flee to Eng- 
land. In 1532, the Earl, taking advantage of the discontent in the 
south of Scotland caused by the king's conduct towards the Arm- 
strongs,2 and of the distracted condition of the Highlands, aided an 
English raid on the borders. Shortly afterwards negotiations for 
peace were begun, and a treaty was finally signed in 1534. 

In January, 1537, James, who had gone to France the preceding 
September, to woo and wed Mary, daughter of the Duke of Vendome, 
but had broken off the match, married Madeline, daughter of the 
king of France. She died in the following July. In June< 1538, he 
espoused Mary of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke of Guise. 



» Twenty-two miles N.N.W. of Edinburgh. 
2 Mentioned in the notes on p. 68. 

209 



210 APPENDIX. 

Henry VIII was by no means satisfied with the influence he exer- 
cised in Scottish affairs, and thought himself slighted by his nephew. 
He was especially provoked at the interest taken by James in foreign 
politics, and in 1542 despatched an expedition against Scotland. It 
failed from want of a proper commissariat. James determined on 
reprisals, but owing to the tardy and inadequate cooperation of his 
nobles, his army was signally defeated and scattered at Solway Moss 
in Cumberland, November 25th, 1542. On the 14th of the following 
December, James died at Falkland Palace. Seven days before his 
death, as he was suffering from a burning fever, tidings was brought 
him that his wife had given birth to a daughter. "Is it so?" he 
replied. " Then God's will be done. It came with a lass, and it will 
go with a lass. ' ' His words were regarded as prophetic of the extinction 
of his house. The child became the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, 
mother of James I of England and grandmother of Charles I. 

CHARACTER OF JAMES V. 

{From Bishop Leslie's " History of Scotland,'''' 1578.'] 

There was great dole and moan made for him through all the 
parts of his realm ; because he was a noble prince and travailed 
[labored] mickle [much] all his days for maintaining of his subjects 
in peace, justice, and quietness. He was a man of personage [person] 
and stature convenient [becoming], albeit mighty and strong there- 
with ; of countenance amiable and lovely, especially in his communi- 
cation ; his eyes gray and sharp of sight, that whomsoever he did 
once see and mark, he would perfectly know in all times thereafter ; 
of wit in all things quick and prompt ; of a princely stomach [courage] 
and high courage in great perils, doubtful affairs, and matters of 
weighty importance. He had in a manner a divine foresight ; for in 
such things as he went about to do, he did them advisedly and with 
great deliberation, to the intent that, amongst all men, his wit and 
prudence might be noted and regarded, and as far excel and pass 
all others in weight and dignity. Besides this, he was sober, moderate, 
honest, affable, courteous, and so far abhorred pride and arrogance 
that he was ever sharp and quick to them which were spotted or noted 
with that crime. 

He was also a good and sure justiciar [judge in criminal matters], 
by the which one thing he allured to him the hearts of all the people, 
because they lived quietly and in rest, out of all oppression and 
molestation of the nobility and rich persons ; and to this severity of 
his was joined and annexed a certain merciful pity, which he did 
ofttimes show to such as had offended, taking rather compositions of 
money nor [than] men's lives. Which was a plain argument that he 
did use his rigor only, as he said himself, to bow and abate the high 
and wrongous hearts of the people, specially Irishmen [Ersemen or 
Highlanders] and borderers, and others nursed and brought up in 
seditious factions and civil rebellions ; and not for greedy desire of 
riches or hunger of money, although such as were affiicted would cry 



APPENDIX. 211 

out. And surely this good and modest prince did not devour and 
consume tlie riches of his country ; for he by his high policy mar- 
vellously riched his realm and himself, both with gold and silver, all 
kinds of rich substance, whereof he left great store and quantity in 
all his palaces at his departing. And so this king, living all his time 
in the favor of fortune, in high honor, riches, and glory, and, for his 
noble acts and prudent policies, worthy to be registered in the book 
of fame, gave up and rendered his spirit into the hands of Almighty 
God. 

SOLDIER'S SONG. 

\_Lines 90-107, Canto F/.] 

Our vicar still preaches that Peter and Poule 

Laid a swinging long curse on the bonny brown bowl, 

That there's wrath and despair in the jolly black-jack, 

And the seven deadly sins in a flagon of sack. 

Yet, whoop, Barnaby ! off with thy liquor, 

Drink upsees out, and a fig for the vicar ! 

Our vicar he calls it damnation to sip 

The ripe ruddy dew of a woman's dear lip; 

Says that Beelzebub lurks in her kerchief so sly, 

And Apollyon shoots darts from her merry black eye. 

Yet, whoop, Jack! kiss Gillian the quicker, 

Till she bloom like a rose, and a fig for the vicar! 

Our vicar thus preaches, — and why should he not ? 
For the dues of his cure are the placket and pot ; 
And 'tis right of his office poor laymen to lurch 
Who infringe the domains of our good Mother Church. 
Yet, whoop, bully boys I off with your liquor, 
Sweet Marjorie's the word, and a fig for the vicar! 

HOW TO STUDY ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
\^From George H. Martin^ Agent of the Mass. Board of Education.'^ 

What is wanted is a carefully graded course, which, beginning 
with the poetry of action, should lead the student step by step to tlie 
sentimental and the reflective, all in their simplest forms, thence 
through the more elaborate narrative to the epic and the dramatic. 
The aim here is not to teach authors or works, but poetry; and the 
works are selected for their value as illustrations, without reference 
to their authors. A parallel course in the study of prose should be 
pursued with the same end. Then, having learned what poetry is 
and what prose is, what they contain and how to find their contents, 
the pupils would be prepared to take up the study of individual 
authors. Having studied the authors, the final step would be to study 
the history of the literature, in which the relation of the authors to 
each other and to their times would appear. This would place the 
study of literature on a' scientific basis, — first elementary ideas, then 
individual wholes, then relations and classifications. 



212 APPENDIX. 



\_From an address by L. B. WilUston, A.M., Supervisor of Public 

Schools, Boston.^ 

How shall the teacher bring his pupils best to see and feel the 
thoughts of his author as he saw and felt them ? 

First, Read the work carefully with them. Let the teacher read, 
and question as he reads. Let him often ask for paraphrases, and 
draw out in every way the thought of his class, making sure that all 
is clear. Let every impression have a corresponding expression, which 
shall re-act, and deepen the impression. 

Second, When a part of the work, an act, book, or canto, has been 
carefully read, assign a theme for a written essay. Let the class tell 
what the poet has attempted, how lie has succeeded, what are the 
impressions made by the characters, scenes, and descriptions. 

Let the teacher himself write upon the themes assigned to his class, 
and thus give them a model of what he wishes them to do. 

Third, When the book or play has been carefully read and studied 
in this way in all its parts, let it be re-read in a larger and freer way 
than before. Let the pupils read, and the teacher watch to see if the 
thought is clearly apprehended by the pupil. Let the fine passages 
be read again and again by different members of the class, and their 
rendering be criticised by class and teacher. If the work read be a 
play, let the parts be taken by different members of the class. Let 
all the parts of the work now be studied in their relation to each other 
and to the whole. Essays now should be written upon subjects sug- 
gested by this more comprehensive study of the work, — a comparison 
of characters, noteworthy scenes and their bearing upon the whole, 
the style of the author, and his skill in description, dramatic presenta- 
tion, or invention. 

If it is objected that it is impossible for a teacher with a large class 
to revise and correct such a mass of written work, I answer that it is 
not to be expected that all the written work of a class should be read 
and carefully corrected by the teacher. Let him criticise, or rather 
call upon his class to do so, what is noticeably wrong in the essays as 
they are read. In these exercises, let the attention be directed chiefly 
to the thought; Let thought govern and direct expression. From 
time to time, according to the number of his class and the teacher's 
ability, let him assign essays to be carefully written and handed in 
for his own careful reading and criticism. But let there be an abun- 
dance of free and rapid writing, that composition, that is, thought 
put into writing, may become easy and natural. The object of the 
writing is not to teach the correct use of English, so much as to make 
clear thinkers and to fix and deepen impressions. 

Fourth, With the careful reading and study of some book i7i school, 
I think it important that there should go the reading of some other 
book o?«^ 0/ school. Flowers are not all to be picked and analyzed, 
but are to be enjoyed as they are seen by "him who runs." " Some 
books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, some few to be chewed 
and digested." Let the pupil have his exercise in merely " tasting" 
books, with enjoyment as the chief end. Let the teacher be his 



APPENDIX. 213 

guide, and merely ask him to report what lie finds. In other words, 
let him read, as we all read when we read for pleasure, — with hi.s 
mind at ease and open to every charm that genius can present. Let 
the teacher make the book the subject of conversation with his class, 
and draw their attention by his questions to the chief points whicli 
make it notewortliy. 

To what extent shall the memory be called upon in the study of 
English literature? Not, I think, to commit long passages, whole 
books, and cantos of poems. Let the pupil absorb as much as possible 
in frequent reading and in study. Now and then, let a few striking 
lines, that have been learned by heart rather than committed to 
memory^ be recited. Do not make a disagreeable task of any such 
exercise. For, that our pupils may receive the highest and best 
influence from this study of English literature, it is essential that they 
love it, and retain only pleasant memories of the hours spent at school 
in the society of its best authors. 



\^From J. M. Biichan, Inspector of High Schools, Ontario, Canada; 
quoted in BlaisdelVs " Outline Studies in English Classics,'''' a 
work that should be in the hands of every teacher of our literature.] 

With all classes of pupils alike, the main thing to be aimed at by 
the teacher is to lead them clearly and fully to understand the mean- 
ing of the author they are reading, and to appreciate the beauty, the 
nobleness, the justness, or the sulDlimity of his thoughts and language. 
Parsing, the analysis of sentences, the derivation of words, the ex- 
planation of allusions, the scansion of verse, the pointing-out of figures 
of speech, the hundred and one minor matters on which the teacher 
may easily dissipate the attention of the pupil, should be strictly 
subordinated to this great aim. ... It is essential that the mind of 
the reader should be put en rapport with tliat of the writer. There 
is something in the influence of a great soul upon another, which 
defies analysis. No analysis of a poem, however subtle, can produce 
the same effect upon the mind and heart as the reading of the poem 
itself. 

Though the works of Shakespeare and Milton and our other great 
writers were not intended by their authors to serve as text-books for 
future generations, yet it is unquestionably the case that a large 
amount of information may be imparted, and a very valuable training 
given, if we deal with them as we deal with Homer and Horace in our 
best schools. Parsing, grammatical analysis, the derivation of words, 
prosody, composition, the history of the language, and to a certain 
extent the history of the race, may be both more pleasantly and more 
profita,bly taught in this than in any other way. It is advisable for 
these reasons, also, that the study of these subjects should be con- 
joined with that of the English literature. Not only may time be 
thus economized, but the difficulty of fixing the attention of flighty 
and inappreciative pupils may more easily be overcome. 



214 APPENDIX. 



l^From F. G. Fleay's " Guide to Chaucer and Spenser.'^^ 

No doubtful critical point should ever be set before the student as 
ascertained. One great advantage of these studies is the acquirement 
of a pov^er of forming a judgment in cases of conflicting evidence. 
Give the student the evidence ; state your own opinion, if you like ; 
but let him judge for himself. 

No extracts or incomplete works should be used. The capability 
of appreciating a whole work, as a whole, is one of the principal aims 
in aesthetic culture. 

It is better to read thoroughly one simple play or poem than to 
know details about all the dramatists and poets. The former trains 
the brain to judge of other plays or poems ; the latter only loads the 
memory with details that can at at any time be found, when required, 
in books of reference. 

For these studies to completely succeed, they must be as thorough 
as our classical studies used to be. No difficult point in syntax, 
prosody, accidence, or pronunciation ; no variation in manners or 
customs ; no historical or geographical allusion, — must be passed 
over without explanation. This training in exactness will not inter- 
fere with, but aid, the higher aims of literary training. 

[From Bev. Henry JSf. Hudson^ Shakespearian Editor.^ 

I have never had and never will have anything but simple exercises ; 
the pupils reading the author under the teacher's direction, correc- 
tion, and explanation ; the teacher not even requiring, though usually 
advising, them to read over the matter in advance. Thus it is a joint 
communing of teacher and pupils with the author for the time being ; 
just that, and nothing more. Nor, assuredly, can such communion, 
in so far as it is genial and free, be without substantial and lasting 
good, — far better, indeed, than any possible cramming of mouth and 
memory for recitation. The one thing needful here is, that the pupils 
rightly understand and feel what they read ; this secured, all the rest 
will take care of itself. 

[From Professor J. M. D. Meiklejohn, Univ. of St. Andrews. '\ 

The first purpose in this elaborate annotation is, of course, the full 
working out of the author's meaning. . . . This thorough excavation 
of the meaning of a really profound thinker is one of the very best 
kinds of training that a boy or girl can receive at school. . . . And 
always new rewards come to the careful reader — in the shape of new 
meanings, recognitions of thoughts he had before missed, of relations 
between the characters that had before escaped him. ... It is prob- 
able that, for those pupils who do not study either Greek or Latin, 
this close examination of every word and phrase in the text will be 
the best substitute that can be found for the study of the ancient 
classics. 



APPENDIX. 21[ 



{^From Professor TTm. Taylor Thorn.'] 

Coleridge's dictum remains true : "In order to get the full sense 
of a word, we should first present to our minds the visual image that 
forms its primary meaning." 

[From Professor Hiram Corson, of Cornell Unuersity.] 

An indispensable condition of the appreciation of poetic forms is 
a well-cultivated voice. Without a proper vocal rendering, no poetry, 
worth reading, can be duly appreciated. The articulating thought 
may be got through silent reading ; but the indefinite, informing spirit 
can be reached, if reached at all, only through a proper vocal rendition 
of the verse. 

lF7'om Samuel Thiirber, Girls' High School, Boston.] 

I urge teachers assiduously to cultivate in their pupils the power of 
poetic expression. The poet, the finest of artists, the maker par 
excellence, builds his verse with infinite pains, ordering his accents, 
matching his rhymes, adjusting his pauses, choosing word and phrase 
for effects of melody, fitting his diction to his theme, elaborating figures 
to give new tone and elevation to his thought. To interpret, to render, 
his work requires no painful practice over an instrument of art. This 
is an attainment quite within the power of every human being. 



From all that has been quoted from the foregoing authorities, it 
may justly be inferred that somehow or other the pupil must be made 
to feel an interest in the subject, to admire what is admirable in 
the composition, and really to enjoy its study. Secure this interest, 
admiration, enjoyment ; and all else will follow as a matter of course : 
fail here, and the time is wasted. 

Every good teacher will have methods of his own ; but the follow- 
ing suggestions, or some of them, may be of practical value to most 
instructors : — 

I. The poem should be read very hastily, at first, for the outline 

of the story or course of thought, 
II. Having thus grasped it as a whole, it should again be read 
through, this time, with some care for the details of the 
story and course of thought. 

III. Then the thorough study of each and every part should be 

begun. 

IV. At the beginning of the class exercise, or as often as needful, 

require of the pupil a statement of — 

(a) The main object of the author in the whole poem, 
oration, play, or other production of which to-day's lesson is 
a part. 



216 APPENDIX. 

(&) The object of the author in this particular canto, 
chapter, act, or other division or subdivision of the main 
work. 
V. Read or recite from memory (or have the pupils do it) the 
finest part or parts of the last lesson. The elocutionary- 
talent of the class should be utilized here, in order that the 
author may appear at his best. 

VI. Require at times (often enough to keep the whole fresh in 
memory) a resume of the ' argument,' story, or succession of 
topics, up to the present lesson. 
VII. Have the student read aloud the sentence, paragraph, or lines, 
now (or previously) assigned. The appointed portion should 
have some unity. 
VIII. Let the student interpret exactly the meaning by substituting 
his own words : explain peculiarities. This translation or 
paraphrase should often be in writing. 

IX. Let him state the immediate object of the author in these lines. 
Is this object relevant ? important ? appropriate in this 
place ? 
X. Let him point out the ingredients (particular thoughts) that 
make up the passage. Are they in good taste ? just ? natu- 
ral ? well arranged ? 

XI. Let him point out other merits or defects, — anything note- 
worthy as regards nobleness of principle or sentiment, grace, 
delicacy, beauty, rhythm, sublimity, wit, wisdom, humor, 
naivete^ kindliness, pathos, energy, concentrated truth, logi- 
cal force, originality ; give allusions, kindred passages, prin- 
ciples illustrated, etc. 

Pupils liable to assist each other should as a rule not be set at work 
upon the same passage, especially if the exercise is to be in writing. 
Each should be independent of interference. 

As an illustration of the way in which a choice passage may be 
made the basis of a language lesson and of rhetorical drill, take the 
first stanza of Canto III, Lady of the Lake, — 

Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore, 

Who danced our infancy upon their knee, 
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store 

Of their strange ventures happed by land or sea — 
How are they blotted from the things that be ! 

How few, all weak and withered of their force, 
Wait on the verge of dark eternity, 

Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse, 
To sweep them from our sight ! Time rolls his ceaseless course. 

(1) Let the pupil memorize this, and recite it with proper voice 
and expression. 

(2) Let him explain any difficult or unusual word, phrase, or 
sentence. 

(3) Next, let him translate the passage into equivalent English, 
avoiding, if practicable, the use of the words of the author. 



APPENDIX. 217 

(4) Let him point out peculiarities, merits, and palpable blemishes, 
if any, or possible improvements in the stanza, 

(5) Let the teacher, if he has not done so already, call for criti- 
cisms. 

(6) In the light of this comment and criticism, let the stanza be 
read once more, with all the elocutionary skill attainable. 

Under heading marked (2), the average student would perhaps 
proceed as follows, either orally, or with prepared manuscript : — 

Tore means of the olden time, or long ago. [It is from the Anglo- 
Saxon word, geara, meaning years.] It is now obsolete or poetic. 
Legends [Latin legenda, things that ought to be read] means remark- 
able stories, myths, or fables, that have come down from past ages, 
and that cannot be verified by historical records. Store [Latin, in- 
staiirdre, to build, renew, restore ; Old English, stor, provisions, sup- 
plies, abundance] means in plenty, numerous. Ventures [Lat. {res) 
Ventura (a thing) about to come] is the same as adventures, under- 
takings attended with some risk. Happed is Old English for happened. 
Be is for are [shortened from Old Eng. plural heen'\. 

The years circle on in their unceasing career. The generation of 
old, that dandled our babyhood in its lap, and to us, wondering boys, 
related tales in abundance of extraordinary adventures that chanced 
to them afloat or ashore — how they are obliterated from existing 
objects ! "Wliat a small number, altogether feeble and shrivelled in 
vigor, like shattered vessels on a sea-beach, are tarrying on the edge 
of the dim infinite ocean of futurity, till the roughly murmuring flood 
comes back again to brush them away from our view ! Onward the 
years unceasingly revolve. 

This stanza is called Spenserian, from Edmund Spenser, who used 
it in his great poem. The Faerie Queene. It consists of nine lines. 
The first eight are pentameter, each of ten syllables and five accents. 
The ninth is hexameter or Alexandrine. It has twelve syllables and 
six accents. The feet are iambic ; an unaccented syllable followed by 
an accented one. The rhymes are ingeniously interwoven; the first 
and third lines rhyming together; also the second, fourth, fifth, and 
seventh ; and, lastly, the sixth, eighth, and ninth. 

The stanza is sonorous, and possesses a solemn beauty and harmony 
appropriate to the serious thoughts it presents, — the brevity of human 
life, the pleasant memories of childhood long past, 

" And that vast ocean we must sail so soon." 

The alliteration in the first, fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth lines 
adds smoothness. The long vowels in the first line introduce the 
thought with great dignity. The word hoarse, in the eighth line, is 
happily imitative of the sullen roar of the ocean ; and the word sweep, 
in the ninth, has in its sound an inherent energy that strongly conveys 
the thought. In the fifth line, all weak and withered of their force, is 
perhaps verbose, if not tautological ; but the neat alliteration may be 
allowed to counterbalance the defect. 



218 



APPENDIX. 



The stanza forms a fit introduction to tlie story of tlie fiery cross ; 
for it brings dimly before us the aged men wlio had tliemselves per- 
haps actually participated in such scenes. One of them told Scott he 
had himself sent the fiery cross through one of the Highland districts 
during the civil war of 1745-1746. 

Criticism by the class and the teacher, with supplementary matter, 
may properly follow ;' and, lastly, the best reader in the class should 
recite the stanza, with appropriate elocution. 

The foregoing rather crude treatment of these lines, supplemented 
by judicious comments, may illustrate what we believe to be one of 
the best possible exercises for giving fulness and accuracy in language 
and for cultivating the taste. It will be found, upon inspection, that 
our notes are prepared with a view to such exercises. Sometimes 
interpretations that are very nearly equivalent are given, in order that 
a nicety of taste and a felicity of expression may be developed in 
choosing among them. Care must be taken, however, not to push 
these or any other class exercises so far into detail as to render them 
uninteresting, or to withdraw attention from the great features of the 
poem. It must ever be borne in mind that it is of vital importance to 
make the student enjoy this study. 



SOME TOPICS FOR ESSAYS. 



The Spenserian stanza. 

The chase and falconry. 

The story of Canto I. 

The story of Canto II. 

The story of Canto III. 

The story of Canto IV. 

The story of Canto V. 

The story of Canto VI. 

The vicinity of Loch Katrine. 

Celt and Saxon. 

Highlanders and Lowlanders. 

Gaels and Borderers. 

Outline sketch of James V. 

The Douglas of the poem. 

Scottish bards. 

Allan-bane. 

Ellen Douglas. 

Second sight among the Scotch. 

Gaelic hospitality. 

Ferragus and Ascobart. 

Roderick Dhu. 

Song in Canto I. 

Songs in Canto II. 

Songs in Canto III. 



Songs in Canto IV. 

Heraldry. 

Athletic games in Canto V. 

Battle, lament, and lay, in CantoVI. 

Story of Blanche of Devan. 

The Druids. 

Brian the Hermit. 

The fiery cross. 

Scottish superstition. 

Bothwell's bannered hall. 

Malcolm's action and character. 

Story of Alice Brand. 

The Taghairm. 

The Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace. 

First meeting of Fitz- James and 

Roderick. 
Story of Blanche and of Red 

Murdoch. 
Story of the "Bleeding Heart." 
Bruce and Douglas. 
Beltane and Moorish dancers. 
Deterioration in the meaning of 

words. Inferences therefrom. 
Stirling Castle. 



APPENDIX. 



219 



Holy rood Palace. 
Highland dress and arms. 
Battle of the Trosachs. 
Combat between James and Rod- 
erick. 
Omens and portents. 
Robin Hood and his Merry Men. 
Death of Roderick. 
Weird women. 



Closing scene of the poem. 
Scottish scenery. 
Clanship in Scotland. 
Knighthood and its obligations. 
Color in the poem. 
Romans in Scotland. 
Duncan, his widow, his son. 
Scott's life and character. 
Scott's poetry and prose. 



INDEX OF WORDS. 



abbey, 164 
Aberfoyle, 16 
accent [in verse], 45 
according pause, 12 
Achray, IG 
adown, 14 
adventures, 139 
adventurers, 1T9 
after [= after wards?], 47 
Albany, 14S 
Allan-bane, 44, etc. 
Allan, 133 
allies, 70 
amain, 19, 59 
ambuscade, 150 
anathema, 87 
an hero, 63 
antiquity, 81 
antlered. 14 
arcade, 202 
archer wight, 167 
Archibald, 56, 163 
ardent, 12 
argument, 11 
Armstrong, 68 
arraignment, 148 
art, 129 
Arthur, 203 
as [=as if?], 67 
Ascabart, 36 
aspirate letters, 92 
astound, 71 
astrand, 188 
atone, 129, 171 
aught, 65, 66, 115 
augured, 86 
Ave Maria, 25, 108 



ballad, 122 
IJalquidder, 103 
I'.alvaig, 103 
ban, 86 
banditti, 175 
IJannochar, 61 
barded, 191 
barefooted, 81 
])arren heritage, 87 
barret, 186 



bat, 134 

battalia, 191 

batten, 134 

battle, 190 

battled, 174, 178 

battlement, 21 

bay, to, 18, 196 

beacon, 13 

bead, 25 

beakers, 179 

Beala-nam-bo, 89 

Beal'an Duine, 190 

Beal'maha, 114 

beamed, 14 

bear it out, 112 

be [plural?], 78 

beetled, 71 

bells, 167 

Beltane, 56, 60 

Ben-an, 24 

Benharrow, 82 

Benledi, 17, 98 

Ben Lomond, 65 

Ben-Shie, 86 

Benvenue, 16 

Benvoirlich, 13 

beshrew, 25 

betide, 133 

better time, 132 

Bevis, 36 

bide, 112 

birchen, 82 

bittern, 39, 143 

black-cock, 44 

black [= Dhu ?], 52 

Blanch's warning, 135 

Blantyre, 64 

blasphemy [in prayer], 88 

blazed, 116 

Bleeding Heart, 51, 69 

blench, 70 

bUndworm, 83 

blue, 79 

board [suggestive], 186 

Bochastle, 17, 110 

bonnets, 57, 196 

boon, 22 

bootless, 71 

Border, 63 

bosky, 93 

boss," 114 

Bothwell, 49, 63, 171 

220 



bound, 82 

boune, 112, 118, 191 

bourgeon, 60 

bourne, 127 

bout, 112 

bow us, 108 

bower, 22, 128, 151, 185 

bracken, 102 

BrackUnn, 54, 194 

brae, 68, 101, 103, 133 

Braes of Doune, 111 

brake, 18 

brands, 74 ' 

brave [= showv ?] , 57 

Breadalbane, 00, 199 

breathe, 16 

Brian, 82 

Brianchoil, 57 

bridal, 99 

bride, 164 

bridegroom, 134 

Brigg, 17 

brogue, 91 

broke, 115 

brooch, 28 

brook, 36, 73, 82, 101 

broom, 23 

bucklered, 83 

bulwarks, 21 

burden, 12, 59 

burghers, 165 

burly, 163 

bursting through, 145 

butts, 167 

buxom, 181 

by [= near?], 144 

Byron [quoted], 83 



cabala, 84 
cairn, 15 
caitiff, 178 
Caledon, 12 
Cambus-kenneth's fane, 

120, 163 
Cambusmore, 17 
canna, 57 
canopy, 26 
canto, 11 

careless [adverb ?], 34 
casque, 196 



INDEX. 



221 



castle gates, 165 

chalice, 80 

champing, 39 

chanters, 58 

chaplet, 83 

chase, 14 

checkered bands, 166 

cheek, 75 

cheer, 93 

Chevy Chase, 64 

chide, 25 

chiding, 19 

childhood's babbling trill, 89 

chime, 132, 198 

chivalry, 68 

christened man, 124 

churchman, 25 

churlish, 75 

clarion, 59 

claymore, 54 

clang [imitative ?], 34 

clift, 22 

clematis, 34 

clemency, 171 

cloister, 25, 84 

close-couched, 19 

clouded, 180 

cognizance, 175 

coif-clad, 99 

coil, 108 

Coilantogle's ford, 142 

Coir-Uriskin, 89 

color, 79 

combating, 72 

common fool, 174 

Commons' King, 166 

communed [accent ?], 42 

conjure, 126, 128 

confusedly [trisj-l. ?], 24 

copse, 14 

cormorant, 77 

coronach, 94, 95 

coronet, 51 

correi, 96 

corselet, 196 

couch, 31 

couched him, 130 

covert, 15 

cowl, 167 

Craig-Forth, 162 

crescent, 64 

crest, 70, 96 

crested, 12, 20 

cross [across ?], 106 

crossing, 71 

crosslet, 87 

cubits, 87 

cumber, 96 

cupola, 21 

curious, 84 

curlew, 151 

cushat dove, 80 



dactylic metre, 60 
daggled, 137 



damosel, errant, l.s4 

dancers, morrice, 164 

dangerous foe, V6\) 

dank, 146 

dappled, 32, 144 

darkling, 123, 139 

de Brent (John), 184 

deep-mouthed, 13 

defile, 195 

Dennan's Row, 114 

depravity, 176 

Dermid's race, 187 

Devan, 133 

dewing, 39 

did [as auxiliary], 12 

dingle, 20 

disowned, 53 

dispensation, 53 

doffing, 165 

domain, 72 

Douglases, 49, 164, 16S, 174, 

209 
Doune, 112, 147 
down, 38, 76 
Druid, 82 

Duncraggan, 93, 197 
dun-deer, 91 
Dunfermhne, 127 
Dunstan, 49 



E 

eagle, 155 

Earl William, 176 

Earn, 118 

eglantine, 22 

eider, 108 

elemental, 197 

Ellen's Isle, 33 

Ellen's spell, 41 

EUipsis, 46,71, 74, 78. 117. 

163, 192 
embattled, 197 
emblems, 22 
embossed, 17 
emphasis (in rhyme), 199 
emphatic word iirst, 15 
emprise, 32 
enough, 146 
enow, 70 
envious, 11 
erne, 191 

errant damosel, 184 
errant knight, 32 
Ettrick, 68 
espial, 69 
evening- tide, 113 
eyry, 191 



F 



Fair, 144 
fairies, 124 
falchion, 26 
falcon, 15 



fall the worst, 26 

fallow, 39 

fared, 132 

fatal green, 124 

fatal mound, 164 

fate, 18 

fateful, 116 

favor, 139 

fay, 31 

fealty, 173 

feint, 158 

fell, 116, 140 

fellest, 37 

fence, 71 

Ferragus, 36 

feud, 125 

feudal power, 166 

fieldfare, 83 

Fiery Cross, 76, 79 

Fillan, Saint, 11 

Fitz James, 37, 203, etc. 

fiagged, 17 

flashes, 119 

fiood, 155 

flooded, 17 

Fleming, 180 

flesh, 142 

flows, 145 

flushing, 96 

for [=on account of?], 176 

foray, 52, 133 

Franciscan, 164 

fraught, 50 

frequent [adverb ?], 33 

friends, 121 

from [starting from ?], Ill 

frontlet. 14 



G 

Gael, 145 

Gallangad, 113 

cambols, 170 

gan,'23 

garnish [= furnishi*], 35 

gathering sound, 78 

gem, 61 

gerunds, 78 

Ghent, 181 

ghostly shrill, 124 

giants, 153 

glade, 21 

glaive, 117, 122, 153, 206 

glen, 82 

(ilenartnej', 13 

Glencairn, 204 

Glenfinlas, 66 

Glen Fruin, 61 

Glengyle, 57 

Glen Luss, 61 

Glentarkin, 112 

glinted, 153 

glistening snow, 126 

glozing, 67 

Goblin Cave, 105 

good faith, 150 



222 



INDEX. 



good-morrow, 80 

gored, 180 

goshawk, 89 

Grace, 27 

grace, 206 

Gra-me, 48, 73 

Grayfriurs Church, 1C9 

Grecian art, 27 

green (color in Scott), 21 

grief [demonstration], 94 

grisley, 42, 125 

grizzled, 81 

guerdon, 53, 185 

guise, 65 

Gunn (John), 154 

gyves, 178 

H 

Hail to the Chief, 60 
halberd, 180 

Hamildon Hill battle, 56 
hamlets, 93 
hardened flesh, 142 
hardihood, 75 
hardily, 136 
harness, 179 

harj) [of Saint Dunstan], 49 
Harp of the North, 11 
harp unseen, 38 
heathery, 14 
heaths, 14, 102 
hectic, 72 
helm, 130 
held, 169 
henchman, 75 
Hero's Targe, 114 
hest, 98 
hie, 120 

Highland plunderers, 26 
hind, 92 
hold, 115, 162 
holy name, 142 
Holy-Kood, 52 
holy tide, 180 
honor, 128 
hood, perch and, 201 
host, 181 
Hotspur, 56 
housing, 207 
Hubert, 8aint, 18 
Hugh of Larbert, 168 
humbled crest, 20 
hurl, the bar, 168 
hurricane, 15 

hurrying [clumsy inver- 
sion ?], 58 
Hyndford, 172 



iambic and trochaic. Si 
Ida^an vine, 34 
impatient blade, 80 
Inch-Cailliach, 87 
insulated, 21 



Jack, 153 

Jatfrey, 83, 181 

James V, 49, 68, 158, 179, 

203, 209 
jennet, 165 
jeopardy, 186 
John Armstrong, 68 
John de Brent, 184 
juggler, 182 



K 

ken, 15, 19 
kerns, 114, 128 
kerchief, 100 
kindly, 125 

knighthood, 13, 138, 172 
knot-grass, S3 



lackey, 75 

Ladies' Eock, 169 

Lanrick height, 109 

Lanrick Mead, 91, 100 

lay. 154 

lea, 50, 159 

leash, 171 

leech, 188 

legends, 78 

Lennox, 61 

level, 72 

Leven-glen, 61 

lichens, 46 

limpid, 62 

Lincoln green, 32, 134, 161 

lineage, 70 

Links of Forth, 70 

Unn, 15 

livelier light, 24 

living gold, 28 

Lochard, 16 

Loch Doine, 103 

Lochiel, 159 

Loch Katrine, 24 

Loch Lomond, 52, 61 

lordship, 130 

loves, [or love's], 45 

love-lorn, 151 

lowered, 148 

Lubnaig's, 101 

Lufra, 170, 200 



M 

Malcolm, 63, 64, 65, etc. 
mankind [accent Y\, 85 
manned, 152 

many-headed monster, 175 
marauding, 53 
Maronnan's cell, 54 
marshall, 185 



match me, 151 

mate, widow's, 172 

matins, 25, 201 

mavis, 122 

maze, 13, 150, 167 

measured mood, 28 

meed, 45 

Meggat, 68 

Menteith, 16, 60, 65, 101 

mere, 31 

merle, 122 

meteor, 84 

metre, 190 

mettle, 16 

mewed, 148 

middle age, 30 

midnight blaze, 103 

mighty augury, 142 

mighty lakes, 155 

minaret, 21 

minion, 74 

minstrel, 12 

mis-array, 172 

misproud, 171 

mock, 162 

Monan's rill, 13 

moor, 16 

moralize, 168 

more than kindred, knew, 

36 
morning prime, 202 
morning-tide, 97, 127 
morrice-dancers, 164 
moss, 97 

mother Earth, 156 
moidd, 126 
mound, fatal, 164 
muster-place, 100 



N 

Naiad, 27 
Need wood, 183 
neighboring to, 180 
news, 67 
niggard, 182 
nighted, 72, 73 
noontide hag, 85 
numbers, poetic feet, 11 
nuptial torch, 70 
nurse, sleep, 178 
nymph, 27 



o'er [= all about?], 139 

Oh ! [too effusive ?] 29 

one only. 29 

on heaven, 34 

opening, 15 

or [= either ?], 83 

orphan, 54 

orison, 43 

osier, 146 

Otterburn, 63 



INDEX. 



223 



out-beggars, 64 
out-lawed, 53, 148 
own, Ibo 



page, 106 

l)ageant, 1C6 

piigod, 21 

paiil back, 15 

pale, 117 

pall, 122 

pallet, 1T8 

part, 125 

parting, 73 

parts [= departs ?], 47, 195 

pass's, 140 

pass, 146 

paternoster, 25 

pennons, 134, 147 

perch and hood, 201 

Percy's Norman pennon, 63 

perfoi-ce, 16 

peril, 66 

pibroch, 39, 118 

Pine, bannered, 57 

pinnacle, 20 

pious fathers, 68 

pitched a bar, 134 

pity and remorse, 19 

plaid, 2S, 45 

play mv prize, 165 

pliest, it2 

ply, flight, 192 

point, 76 

pomp, 64 

port, 36, 203 

postern, 163 

prelude, 58 

presages, 86, 121 

presence, 203 

pricked, 162, 172 

primeval, 105 

prize, 105 

prolepsis, 173 

prophet, 156 

pi'ose, 188 

proselyte, 205 

prune," 30 

pry, 205 

ptarmigan, 31, 65 

purvey, 182 



Q 

^uail, 66 
quarry, IS, 69 
quarterstafl", 107 
questing, 91 



R 

raid, 61 
read, 156. 205 



rears, 150 

rearward, 194 

reave, 50 

reck, 131 

recked, 141 

Ked, 117 

reeled [his eye], 99 

reflexive pronoun, 19, 193, 

197 
refluent, 194 
rendezvous, 104 
requu-e, 37 
retreat, in dangerous hour, 

33 
reveille, 40 
revelry, 80 

rhyme (emphatic), 199 
rhvme, 75, 68, 90 
ring, 131, 203 
ritual, 81 
rivals all but, 145 
Eiver Demon, 85 
liobin Hood, 164, 167 
Eob Kov, 198 
Koderick, 60, 115 
roe, 15 
roebuck, 91 
rood, 31 
roots him, 60 
rosary, 25 
rose, 145 
rosebud, %'[ 
Koss-Dhu, 61 
rouse, 116 
rout, 15, 167 
rowan, 81 
Euskin, 79, 204 
Euth, 157 



s 

sable, 55 
sable-lettered, 84 
Saint Bride, 99 
Saint Dunstan, 49 
Saint Fillan, 11 
Saint Modan, 48 
Saint Serle, 163 
satyrs, 106 
save he, 116 
Saxon, 140, 196 
scalp, 88 
scapes, 134 
scathe, 128 
scaur, 92 
searest, 96 
sedgy, 39 
Seine, 19 

self-unscabbarded, 56 
sentient, 1 15 
seraph, 208 
serried, 193 
shadowy plaid, 55 
shaggv, 118 
shallop, 29 
shame me, 183 



sheen, 21, 123, 144, 203 

shelf, 114 

shingles, 146, 149, 151 

shingly, 86 

shock, 150 

shore, 17 

shred, 138 

shrewdly, 16 

shrouds', 54, 73, 116 

sickening pang, 101 

signet, 131 

silent, 152 

silver strand, 27 

sires, as to your, 149 

sleepless eye, 125 

slew in ' Holy-Eood, a 

knight, 53 
slighting, 30 
slip, 141 

snood, 28, 83, 100 
Snowdoun, 37, 205 
sob, 65 
solstice, 14 
sooth, 32, 121, 146 
sounds [conveving sense ?], 

56, 58 
sounds [boding], 86 
space and law, 141 
Spenserian stanza, 11, 78 
sjjray, 111 
spy, 117 
stag, 13 
stake, 167 

stance [= station ?], 118 
stanch, IS 
stark, 156, 165 
state, 203 
staves, 171 
stayed, 16, 202 
steal, 144 
steel, 17 
steepy, 91, 127 
steered him, 77 
still, 105, 152 
Stirling, 205 
Stirling's porch, 70 
stock and stone, 142 
stoned, 200 
store, 35, 182, 196 
strain, 107 
stranger, 143 
Strath, 82 

Strath-Gartney, 103 
Strath-Enderick, 66 
Strath- Ire, 98 
strathspey, 52 
streamers, 22, 58 
streight, 69 
strong hand, 150 
strook, 88 
Stumah, 96 
sturdily, 136 
subterranean host, 152 
such birth betrayed, 28 
swath, 93 
swarthy, 180 
sylvan, 15 



224 



INDEX. 



symphony, 12 
sj^ntax, 166, 186 



Taghairm, 113 

tainted, 14 

Taish, 32 

talisman, 205 

tamed the Border-side, 68 

tapestried, 200 

targe, 98, 158 

target, 35 

tattered, 196 

tautology, 152, 171 

Teith, 17 

ten, stag of, 136 

Tennyson, 173 

Teviot, 68 

thou saidst, 120 

thrilled, 136 

thrilling sounds, 58 

thy stately form, 69 

tilter, 165 

Tinchel, 193 

toils, 135 

train, 129 

Trent, 181 

trill, [imitative], 89 

trochaic metre, 38 

trophies, 36, 2Ul 

Trosachs, 19, 20, 23, 193, 

197 
trowed, 120 
Truce, 157 
truncheon, 148 
trust [believe ?], 65 
Tullibardine, 184 
Turk, Brigg of, 17 
turmoil, 37 
turned him, 19, 47 
Tweed. 68 



Tweed to Spey, 50 
twilight wood, 193 



U 

Uam-Var, 14 
unabated, 17 
unasked, birth and name, 

36 
unhasp, 187 
unhooded, 64 
unwilling, 100 
unwont, 48 

urge (or urges ?), 96, 146 
Urisk, 106 
Uriskin, 89 
usher, 131 



vair, 123 

Valley of dry bones, 152 

vantageless, 156 

vassals, 61, 88 

vaward, 192 

veering, 22 

A'ennachar, 17 

verge, 114, 174 

vespers, 201 

Vich, 59 

vulgar, 176 



W 

wan, 72 

ward, 59, 66, 158, 172, 173 

warder, 14, 102, 207 

warrant, 143 

warrior oak, 22 

watch and ward, 142 



weak and withered, 78 
weeds, 132 
weird, 38 
well advised, 113 
whinyard, 18 
wiled, 51 
wildered, 31 
wildering, 24, 145 
wilding. 111 
winded, 33, 145 
witch-elm, 11, 207 
wizard, 13 
wizard-elm, 207 
what time, 56, 78, 111 
wheel, 187 
whisper-letters, 92 
why sounds, 124 
widow's mate, 173 
wight, 167 
wist, 126 
witness, 153 
woe the while, 55 
woe worth, 20 
wold, 122, 124, 140 
woned, 124 
Avont, 122, 155 
word-painting, 24, 46 
worth, 20 
wot, 37, 1S6 
wot ye, 104 
wreak, 13S 



Yarrow, 68 
yell, 94 
yeoman, 181 
yester even, 204 
yesternight, 31 
yet, 129 
yew, 87 
3'-ore, 55, 78 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 










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